A Rather Unexpected Turn of Events
by J a friend
Summary: This is the story of how the wayward Gryffindor Prince tried and tried to capture the heart of a certain redhead... but some things are better left to their own devices, and in this case love is one of them.
1. Chapter 1

**So I know you were probably expecting a new chapter on my other story, but I kind of got writer's block (YES I REALIZE I'M ONLY SIX CHAPTERS IN I AM INCOMPETENT OKAY) and I was hit with inspiration, so voilá; a new story. Now that I have two, I will still update once a week, but here's the catch: only one story per week. Which I will choose depends on whether I'm smacked in the face by inspiration. So now that you are all a bit annoyed with me, let's begin.**

 **Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling. Which I'm sure you've figured out considering my utter lack of talent compared to hers.**

"I'm going out this evening. Vernon is taking me to dinner."

Lily Evans couldn't contain a snort at her sister's comment.

Petunia Evans turned, arching an eyebrow. "Yes, because _you_ can judge. When's the last time you had a boyfriend again? Oh right. You were _fourteen_."

Lily gave her a snarky look and sighed, laying back on her bed.

Petunia laughed. "You probably couldn't even get a date if you _begged_."

Lily's retort was sharply cut off by the doorbell ringing.

The two girls, forgetting their quarrel, instantly leapt toward Lily's window.

Petunia whistled. "Well. That is one _good-looking_ boy."

Lily had to agree. Though they could not see his face, they could make out a head of black hair that you couldn't look at without wanting to run your hands through it. His white t-shirt clung to the muscle of his back and arms. The boy stretched, and Petunia nearly swooned.

She practically ran down the stairs and opened the door. Lily followed at a safe distance.

Petunia smiled and fluttered her eyelashes. "Can I help you?"

Lily's heart nearly stopped when a very familiar voice replied, "Erm... maybe. Is this the Evans residence? My name's James... I'm... I'm here to see Lily? I know her from school. I'm supposed to tell her something about the party tomorrow night."

Lily barely registered Petunia's sigh of disappointment and disgust as she tried not to retch. She had been admiring _James_?

Lily shook her head slightly, trying to clear it. James had become a good friend during sixth year. He had admitted to her that his obnoxious behavior was the result of a very cruel dare by Sirius way back in first year-that, he admitted, he had taken WAY too far. Of course, it had taken a flask of Veritaserum and some very awkward questions to make her believe him, but eventually she did.

As for this party... oh, that's right. James was having a party at his place to celebrate the beginning of their last year.

"Lily? LILY!"

Lily blinked and realized her sister was calling her. She hurried down the stairs and faked surprise at seeing James.

"So," Petunia said pointedly. "Are you going to introduce me?"

Lily gave her a blank look, then registered. "Oh. Right. James, this is my sister, Petunia."

Petunia gave him a sickening smile that she probably thought was flirty. "Pleasure."

James, however, realized that this was the girl that had made Lily so upset over the years, and had to force his own tiny smile.

"Petunia, this is James Potter, my fri-"

Lily noticed Petunia wearing a smirk and eyeing James appreciatively, and amended her statement at the last moment.

"My boyfriend."

 **And there it is! Don't be mad at me about the update thing please: I only have like three readers as it is. Can't afford to lose any.**

 **UPDATED: Already more views by 9/5 than the whole month of August! You guys are awesome!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

 **So here is chapter 2! Hope you like it!**

 **Disclaimer: I'm American, in case you can't tell. Oh, and Harry Potter isn't mine, by the way.**

Petunia scoffed. "Sure he is."

Lily narrowed her eyes, thinking furiously. After a moment, ignoring the rational part of her brain, she pushed past Petunia, put her arms around James's neck- and kissed him.

Instantly her brain went dead. All she could focus on was his warm lips against hers, his hair so soft under her fingers... she immediately worried that he would pull away, and he did-or at least tried to. Lily pulled him back and deepened the kiss. Dimly, she heard Petunia give a cry of disgust, heard the door slam-and suddenly James was wrenching himself away from her.

Lily knew she probably had a look of guilt on her face, but where she expected James's face to be lit up with delight, there was only a bit of wistfulness that was quickly being chased off by anger and-her chest ached when she saw it- hurt.

"What the hell, Lily?"

Lily was shocked. Of all the things she had expected his first words to be, that was not one of them.

"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"No, you shouldn't have!" James was now very close to yelling. " _What the hell?_ You know-hell _, the whole castle_ knows-that I've been practically bloody _in love with you_ since first year, and as soon as I think that I can finally be happy as your friend, you go and do something like that!"

Lily's guilt was growing rapidly. She tried frantically to calm him down, but James ignored her attempts.

"You can't just play with my feelings like that, I'm not some little toy you can mess with, I'm a human being, I like to consider myself a good person, I thought we were getting along fine, why did you do that to me? Do you just enjoy my pain?"

Lily jolted when she realized he wasn't being rhetorical. "I..."

"You know what, I don't want to know. I just... look. I was coming to tell you that the party tomorrow starts at seven. Be there. Or don't. Just... please don't come up to me. I... I need a few days."

Lily reached out her arm. "James..."

James sighed. "Please... just... let me be right now."

With a crack, he Disapparated.

Lily stared at the spot where he had been standing, arm still outstretched, for several minutes, before sighing, holding back brimming tears, and going inside.

...

James was _pissed_.

He was pacing in his bedroom, the other three Marauders watching exasperatedly.

Finally, Remus said, "James, you're wearing a hole in the floor. Please just-"

"NO. I will not calm down, I will not sit down, and I will not quiet down. Remus, the girl of my dreams _kissed me_ as soon as I was fine with just being friends, and she only did it to stick it to her bloody sister!"

Remus sighed. "Yes, I know that. But pacing doesn't help."

James threw up his hands. "Great. Now you're acting like my mother. Since I'm _bothering_ you so much, I'll just go."

He stormed out of the room, and they could hear his muttered string of curses all the way down the hall.

"Sirius, maybe you should try to talk some sense into him," Peter suggested.

Sirius nodded and followed the fuming James.

Remus sat back in James's desk chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Lily, what've you done?"

 **So, there's chapter two. For all of you who are reading my other story, you may notice my writing is a lot better in this story. That's because I'm much better at writing older characters, fifth, sixth, seventh year characters. I promise that when we get to the later years of SYTR, the writing will improve drastically. Thanks for reading, and please review! It makes my day.**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

 **So, yes, I took down SYTR. No one kill me. I'll either upload an updated version or a different fic soon. But trust me, no matter what, I won't forget Evan Carter, as dumb as that sounds. Perhaps he'll become a side character, perhaps I'll revamp SYTR. I don't know yet. But I enjoy writing him far too much to give him up.**

 **But, I also updated my most popular story: this one! So you're welcome.**

 **Disclaimer: I am American. And not blonde. And a boy. But you know, other than that... oh, wait, HP's not mine either, so never mind.**

"Damn. You should dress up more often. You look _amazing_!"

Lily laughed at Alice's words as she added the last touches to her makeup. She was wearing a black dress that went down to her ankles, with a slit going up to her right thigh. It had a sweetheart neckline and was suitably loose. Which, of course, meant that Alice thought it was too conservative and Lily wondered if she should sew the slit back together.

She swept her hair back off her neck and put on the necklace that Sirius had given her for her sixteenth birthday. It had an emerald the same color as her eyes. On each side of the shimmering gem ran a line of glittering black rock-taken from a meteorite, Sirius said, so that she would always be close to the stars-close to him, if ever she needed him.

Damn. It's a good thing she had an inkling that he had feelings for Remus, or she'd be worried that he had feelings for _her_.

 _Hey_ , she thought, allowing her lips to turn upward in amusement. _I'm sure the girls at school will be devastated. Their loss. Me? I'm just lucky to have such a good friend._

"What're you grinning about?"

Lily was jerked from her thoughts-rather violently in her opinion-when she heard somone speak. She blinked slowly, owlishly up at Alice, who was peering at her with a quizzical expression, her delicate eyebrows furrowed, the sun casting a halo effect on her blonde hair and making her sky blue eyes twinkle, giving her the appearance of a rather amused angel.

"Hello? Earth to Lily? Anyone home?" Alice joked, rapping her knuckles on the side of Lily's head.

Lily brushed off Alice's hand with a good-natured laugh. She told Alice what she had been pondering, and Alice chuckled dryly, shaking her head. "Only you, Lily."

Lily frowned. "Come again?"

Alice gave her a wry grin. "Only you would be thinking into something like this so much. You're only seventeen; you can't afford to get nostalgic and sappy yet!"

Rolling her eyes, Lily adjusted her eyeshadow-a beautiful jade color, to make her eyes look brighter-and stood up. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's go."

Alice bounced up, her white summer dress falling down to her knees, bits of lace lining her elbow-length sleeves and hem, only adding to her angelic look.

As they stepped out the front door, Lily calling a goodbye to her parents, Alice suddenly stopped and frowned. "James is going to be there."

Lily's heart skipped a beat at the reminder, but outwardly all she did was nod. "Yes."

"And he's... mad, or confused or whatever, and wants you to let him be."

"That's right."

Alice gave a devilish smirk. "He never asked _me_ not to approach him."

Lily couldn't help but smile. "You're going to make it hell for him, aren't you?"

Alice nodded. "Oh, you have absolutely no idea."

Lily nodded back resignedly. "Just don't bother Remus too much. The full moon is in two days. I think he'll bite your head off if you annoy him."

Alice gave her a meaningful look. "I will make no promises."

 **Yes, it is short. Yes, it is a teaser. Yes, I am a horrible person. But it's so bloody** ** _fun_** **to make you guys annoyed.**

 **But seriously, I will do something with the best OC I will ever come up with. I'm not sure what, but I will.**

 **I just hope I can make it worth the wait.**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

 **A/N is at the bottom.**

 **Disclaimer: So you know that series? You know, with the kid with the scar, the wizard kid? Harry Potter? Yeah. I don't own it.**

"This is a bloody stupid idea."

Remus groaned. "You've said that seven times in the past hour. It's _fine_."

James winced. "Everyone knows fine translates to absolutely _awful_."

Sirius sighed. "You know what? If you keep taking everything the worst possible way, we might as well just stop talking. And since I'm me, I'm not going to stop talking. So either stop _moping_ or _leave the bloody room._ "

James frowned as the vase of flowers he was holding wobbled, stopping its fall at the last moment. "But come on. _Shakespeare-themed?_ What the hell was my mother _thinking_?"

Remus turned to glare at him from where he was affixing individual flowers to the chandelier, weaving them into a complex web of roses, daffodils and daisies. "Hey! I like this idea. And it's _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ -themed, actually."

James put his hands up. "Oh, _excuse_ me."

"Well if you're going to _insult_ it you could at least-"

"How about everyone just shut it?" A very fed-up looking Peter cried out, tossing up his hands. "Just shut it! Please! Merlin, you sound like children!"

The other three looked at him, surprised at his outburst.

"Can we just finish this? Please? Then we can... duel, or play chess, or whatever the hell you want! But James's mom is going to come back soon, and if we're not done, we're screwed!"

Sirius clasped his hands in a grateful gesture. "Thank Merlin someone else in this room has sense!"

James sighed in resignation and grabbed another vase. He frowned as he recognized the flowers: white lilies. The already-dark clouds over him grew darker, and his frown became more pronounced.

Shoving the vase onto the nearest table, he stormed out of the room.

Remus looked to see what had made him so mad and shook his head. "He needs to figure out how to fix things between him and Lily. It's tearing him apart."

...

"Thanks for coming. Here you go." James handed Anastasia Trewe a chrysanthemum as she crossed the threshold.

Anastasia, a dreamy, rather odd Ravenclaw in the year below, paused. "Thank you."

James furrowed his brow. "For the flower?"

Anastasia gave a rather far-off smile. "Well, yes. You're a wonderful friend too."

James became even more puzzled. "Huh?"

Anastasia simply gave him a knowing look. "A chrysanthemum means 'you're a good friend'. In the language of the flowers, I mean."

James merely nodded to give the illusion that he understood.

Anastasia pointed. "You know, you probably should get rid of those."

James felt like he hadn't understood a thing she had said in the entire conversation. "What?"

"The black roses. They mean death."

James's eyes widened as he took in the morbid statement. "Er... okay. Right."

Anastasia moved on, and James discreetly pushed the vase of black roses into the fire.

"Well, _that_ was bloody _creepy_."

James smiled and slapped Sirius on the back. "No kidding."

"Hey, do you-"

"Excuse me."

They froze at the timid voice, and turned to see Lily standing on the doorstep. James almost choked on his tongue.

She was standing rather awkwardly, her tall frame slightly turned in on itself. Her dress clung just enough to make it difficult for him to train his eyes on her face, but not enough to be blatantly teasing. Her makeup was subtle, but make her hair stand out like fire rippling down her back, her eyes shining with a warm glow.

Sirius elbowed him, and he straightened. "Right. Sorry. Here you go."

He handed her an ambrosia, and she glided past, relieved.

He turned to find Sirius grinning from ear to ear.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I owe Anastasia two Galleons. She bet that you would hand Lily an ambrosia."

"Why?"

"Because apparently it means, 'your love is reciprocated', and she knew that you didn't know that. I get the feeling she made the bet just so I could tell you this, and you could realize that you still love Lily. Rather clever, even for a Ravenclaw."

James blanched. " _Please_ tell me Lily doesn't know that."

Sirius snorted. "I doubt it. And if she does, I doubt she thinks you did it on purpose."

James gritted his teeth. "I'm gonna kill Anastasia."

Sirius frowned. "Hey mate..."

"What?"

A grin split the grey-eyed boy's face. "If you go to Azkaban, can I have your broom?"

"Oh, bugger off."

...

"Are we going to talk about this?"

James turned his head from the punch table to see Lily standing behind him, arms crossed.

He sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. "Talk about what?"

Lily narrowed her eyes at him. "You know what."

James frowned. He mimed a look of realization. "Oh, you mean you treating me like shit, using me to annoy your sister, and pretty much hacking my feelings to pieces? Is that what you're referring to?"

Lily ground her teeth. "Clearly it didn't hurt that much, considering you've clearly moved past sadness and regret and straight on to anger-"

"You're bloody right I'm angry, you SCREWED WITH MY HEAD! AND FOR WHAT? SOME PETTY ARGUMENT? WELL-"

"-well obviously I didn't screw with it that much, because you seem like it was pretty easy to get over."

James cut off mid-sentence. After a moment, he spoke again.

"Easy?" He repeated quietly. " _Easy?_ "

Lily resisted the outrageous temptation to take a step back. When James got quiet, he was livid.

"Yes, easy. Look at you, back to normal, complaining as usual-"

"IT WAS NOT _FUCKING_ EASY!"

Lily inhaled sharply.

"IT WAS NOT FUCKING EASY, LILY. YOU DON'T KNOW IT, BUT EVERYONE THAT HAD BEEN STAYING HERE KNOWS IT, MY PARENTS KNOW IT, REMUS AND PETER BLOODY KNOW IT, SIRIUS SURE AS HELL KNOWS IT-BUT OF COURSE YOU DON'T."

James took a deep breath, and suddenly he was speaking in that low, dangerous voice again. Although she would never admit it, Lily was slightly afraid now.

"Of _course_ you don't. You didn't stop to think about what I would feel, what it would be like for me, no, you just wanted to show up your sister, to hell with my goddamn FEELINGS. Well you know what? Fuck you, Evans. I managed to survive without you for seventeen bloody years. I think I can manage one more."

With that, he stormed out, stomping up the thickly-carpeted stairs. The slam that announced his returning to his bedroom was heard throughout the entire house, and the party paused for a moment.

Sirius, trying to break the awkward silence, jumped onto a chair. "Oi! Who's up for some Truth or Dare?"

 **So there it is! To quote Harry Potter Puppet Pals: *dramatically throws head back* ANGST.**

 **But really, let me know what you think.**

 **Oh, and to that reviewer-you know who you are-yes, annoying you IS fun to me. So many times I am the reader. It feels good to be in control.**

 **On in a happier note, THANK YOU FOR GETTING THIS STORY TO 1,000 VIEWERS! I know that seems like barely any, but it's amazing to know that a THOUSAND people have seen my story! (Or at least accidentally clicked on it). Thank you guys so much! Have a cookie and a coffee on me! Or for you hot chocolate lovers-a.k.a. those after my heart-you can have two on me. I love hot chocolate.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed. See you next time!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

 **May I just say: Two updates in two days? YOU'RE WELCOME. The only reason I put this up was because it's short. A/N at the bottom.**

 **Disclaimer: I really ought to just start copying and pasting this. I don't own Harry Potter. There. I said it.**

"James? Isn't that Zeus?"

James looked up on the first day back from the summer holidays to see Zeus, his eagle owl, soaring toward him with the rest of the mail. He frowned. Zeus was supposed to be in France, where his parents were on holiday. "What in Merlin's name-"

The entire Hall grew silent, conversations cut off, as they saw James Potter's letter. A black letter.

James was shaking, trying to open the letter, hands quivering so much that he couldn't.

A set of long pale fingers plucked it out of his hands. Sirius, who was shaking nearly as much as James himself, opened the letter, than handed it back.

James opened the letter. He read a few lines, eyes darting back and forth. Then he dropped it, his fingers numb, nerveless, and he barely noticed Sirius grabbing the letter because for some reason he couldn't see, his eyes were blurry for some reason, and James didn't know why, and he didn't hear Sirius's cry of shock and grief, because all he could see were the words flashing out at him: _Death Eaters... Dark Mark... Tortured for information..._ grim, informal words that told him that his father was dead, that he was gone, that he had left him and was never coming back, and James was running, and suddenly he was at the top of the Astronomy Tower, and he collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and someone was sobbing, and somewhere dimly James knew it was him, but he couldn't feel anything, because his blood had turned to ice, his skin to metal, his heart to stone.

He felt a light touch on his shoulder. James turned, confused. His mates would have just sat down next to him.

He foolishly half-hoped that it was Lily. That it would be like a movie. One of the romantic Muggle movies Lily had talked about, where they would fight, then something bad would happen, and the other would come to comfort them, all arguing forgotten, and live happily ever after.

It wasn't.

Because in a world in the midst of war, there's no such thing as happy ever after.

James turned to see Marlene standing there, his longtime neighbor, tears streaking down her cheeks. He had forgotten how close she was to his family. He stood and wrapped her in a hug, and they both sobbed on each other's shoulders, each an anchor for the other, swaying in the open sea of despair. They cried until they could cry no more, shirts covered in tears of the other's, and quietly, slowly, very slowly, James began to whisper a verse from the book of poems his mother had read years ago as he and the neighborhood children listened, enraptured, watching as James's father waved his wand and caused glittering figures to act them out

 _They say death is a part of life._

 _Why does it have to be?_

 _Why is death so very unfair,_

 _In taking you so early away from me?_

Marlene sobbed again at those words, no tears coming out, just a raspy, grief-torn noise, and James shattered a bit more as he held the normally strong girl who stood broken in his embrace.

 **So as you can tell, James's life is pretty shitty right now. He could take it out on others, or he could hold it in and eventually explode. I guess you'll have to wait to find out, huh? *evil laugh***

 **The poem is made up by moi. Not bad, huh? Anyway, I will respond to reviews starting now if you have a question or something you want me to answer or want me to explain a character's actions or something.**

 **Guest : So I kind of get where you're coming from. I'm not against Lily or James; I mean they're my adaptations. But think about the fact that the girl that James finally thinks he has gotten over kisses him just to prove a point! If you have a crush, wouldn't you feel used if they did that to you? (And if not, pretend you have one.) I mean, he has suppressed feelings for more than a year! Just think about that!**

 **Oh, and by the way guys: I promise this is a JILY story. ONLY JILY. (Well obviously side pairings but you get what I mean). Marlene is that one friend that comes over every week and is friends with your parents too. That's it.**

 **You're welcome again!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

 **A/N at the bottom.**

 **Disclaimer: Let's be honest; this is unnecessary. We all know I'm not J. K. Rowling.**

"Hey! Ja-er, Potter!"

James barely held back a groan as he recognized the voice. It wasn't her, of course; he could never dislike her talking to him. But he was about an inch away from collapsing into a messy pile of tears, smudged ink and broken quills, and he was trying to make it to his dorm.

He turned slowly. "Hello Evans," he said cautiously. "Look, I'm really sorry, but could we talk later? Now isn't-"

He was cut off when Lily threw her arms around him. The awkward one-sided hug lasted a few seconds before she pulled back. "I'm so sorry. About your dad. He was a great person. He will be missed."

James had forgotten that Lily had met his father before. He smiled slightly. "Thank you."

Lily nodded, then slapped him across the face-though not as hard as she could have, he noticed.

"Now with that addressed, I am going to kill you, James."

James simply looked back, not bothering to protest, knowing she would shut him down.

"Now, I don't blame you for getting mad. But screaming at me and then stomping away? Childish. And you didn't give a chance to say anything. Yes, I was out of line. But so were you."

James maintained a politely accepting look. It infuriated her.

"Quit doing that! Accepting it, making it seem as if you are humble enough to agree when we both know you aren't, that you don't!"

James raised one eyebrow, but said nothing.

"ANSWER ME, DAMNIT."

"Thank you for what you said about my father. Good day, Lily."

With that he walked away, leaving a seething Lily behind.

...

"OPEN THE DOOR!"

James stood outside the Hospital Wing, pacing angrily. Remus, Peter and Marlene were with him. Sirius, as well as Alice, had gone inside, per Lily's request.

"OPEN THE FU-"

His enraged expletive was cut off by the door creaking open. A pale, disheveled Sirius stepped out.

James sagged in relief. "Is she okay? What happened? Can I come in? Is she going to St. Mungo's? Who did it?"

Sirius blinked back at him, a strange expression on its face. Suddenly Remus recognized it. But he was too late. Right as he leaped forward, Sirius's fist collided with James's nose. A sharp snap echoed down the corridor.

A shocked James cradled his nose as Sirius stepped forward.

"What the _hell_ are you playing at, Prongs? Ignoring her, acting like a prick, then just walking away? _How could you?"_

James flinched, but then stood straight. "In case you couldn't tell, I wasn't exactly in a good place right then, and I didn't know-"

Sirius's eyes flashed. His voice was steely and cold. "No. You didn't. She could have _died_. _DIED_ , James."

"I didn't know..."

Blazing grey orbs glared at him so fiercely he trailed off meekly. " _That's not good enough._ You've been acting like a prick since the party. I swear to Merlin, if anything from this attack becomes permanent, no matter how minor, it will be your fault, and I will _treat it as such,"_ Sirius snapped in a dangerously low tone.

"But-"

Sirius raised a hand and sighed. "Frankly, I don't give a shit. Save it. Just- leave."

With that, he turned. Just before entering the Wing again, he called, without looking back, "Oh, and by the way; Remus, Marlene, Peter, she says you can come in."

The other three looked apologetically at a gaping, extremely furious James before practically sprinting in to see their friend.

James was left alone. He threw up his hands and left, muttering, "that's just petty, Lily. Damnit, who gives a shit if we argued, I still want to see you..."

 **So, yeah. Definitely not my best work, but not too too bad. Hope you didn't hate it. Review if you can!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **A/N at the bottom.**

 **Disclaimer: I. Am. A. Boy. And I don't own Harry Potter. *drawls in terrible Snape impression*** ** _Obviously_** **.**

 **CHAPTER 7: The Other Black**

If you were to enter the Great Hall the morning of October 8, 1977, you would notice a buzz in the air. Newspapers would be held in the hands of nearly every student, each flashing with the same headline:

 **Hogwarts Student Attacked: Is the Infamous School No Longer Safe?**

 **Lily Evans, a Muggleborn in her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was the victim of a vicious attack on Saturday. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore has released that "...after a harmless altercation with another student, (whom, based in prior events, we believe to be James Potter, son of healer Euphemia Potter and her recently deceased husband Fleamont) Miss Evans was ambushed and attacked..." by who they "...believe to be another student...". It has been confirmed that numerous dark spells were used, even possibly the Cruciatus Curse. This raises the question: is the famously safe, secure school no longer so? For now, we can only guess. We will inform you when any other information reaches us, but for now, all we can ask for is that you cast your hearts to Lily Evans, the girl that was dragged into a war she wanted no part in.**

...

"Lily?"

Lily rolled over to see Sirius looking at her, his eyes flickering with something dark and dangerous.

"W-what?"

"Who attacked you?"

Lily flinched and turned away.

"Lily?"

She didn't move.

" _Lily_."

No response, except for a slight shift in weight and a poorly covered grunt of pain.

Sirius sighed. " _Please_ , Lily."

When still she did not answer, he sighed again and left.

...

Peter was taking watch when she woke up.

Lily had scoffed at first when the four boys had told her that they would take shifts. But soon she rather enjoyed having someone watch over her. She was never lonely; someone was always there to sit and talk with her.

It was surprising how refreshing it was to talk to Peter. Poor, overlooked Peter; not as brilliant as Remus, not as talented as James, not as funny as Sirius, he was constantly in the shadows. But Lily had learned that he was exceedingly perceptive, slightly cynical, wonderfully clever, and rather mischievous in his own right.

When she woke up and saw Peter, she smiled, happy to begin a conversation with the blond boy. The smile dropped away, however, when she saw his face. He was staring at her with a horrified expression, the spark of lightheartedness normally present in his eyes gone.

She frowned. "What's wrong, Peter?"

"Why didn't you tell Sirius?"

Her face went pale. She winced subconsciously, her hand going toward her shoulder, wrapped in bandages that wouldn't stop turning crimson. Surely he couldn't know. He was Peter after all, and some of what the others said was rooted in truth. "I-what do you mean?"

"Why didn't you tell Sirius that it was Regulus who attacked you?"

 **I smell a cliffhanger! You're welcome. I know you guys love them. *grins sadistically***

 **All my readers, you deserve the world. Unfortunately, all I can give you is this story, so I'm making it as entertaining and magical as I can! My dream is to have hundreds of people liking and sharing my work, but even if only one person comes to love this story, I will consider it a success. Thank you my readers: I only wish I could do more for you.**

 **Review and tell me your thoughts! See you next week.**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N at the bottom.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. (I've run out of interesting ones)**

Chapter 8:

Lily's blood ran cold. "What? I-I have no idea what you're talking about."

"D-d-don't l-lie to m-me. I h-heard you."

Lily furrowed her brow. "What do you mean... you heard me?"

Peter blanched guiltily. "You-you talk in your sleep. I heard you begging Reg- him. To make it stop."

Lily tilted her head. "How did you know it wasn't just a nightmare, that it wasn't just something I was scared would happen?"

Peter gave a tiny grin of pride that quickly fell off as he spoke. "I didn't. Your reaction confirmed it."

Lily cursed under her breath. Why couldn't he be as oblivious as the others made him out to be?

"Please don't tell Sirius. Or any of them for that matter!"

Peter sighed. "I have to, Lily. It's his brother. You know he'll want to know."

Lily internally groaned. His reasoning was sound.

So she resorted to a different tactic.

Digging up the past and using it as blackmail.

"I covered for you when you scratched James's broom until you figured out how to fix it. I helped you get Remus a birthday present second year when you forgot. I-"

"Okay, okay, I get it!"

Lily smiled. "So you'll keep quiet?"

The smile disappeared when he shook his head. "Look, you can tell them about all of that, but I still have to. It's in the Marau- er, our code."

Lily groaned. "Peter, you don't understand."

"Then explain it to me, by all means. My ears are open. But I will say this; if Regulus Black attacked you, I will tell his brother. If he threatened you, I will tell his brother. If he so much as _insulted_ you-"

"Okay, okay, I get it! Regulus didn't actually attack me. It was- well, it wasn't him. They basically forced him to come and watch-they tried to get him to join in, but he wouldn't. And..."

Here she trailed off, an expression of horror and fear on her face at the memory.

"One of them tried to... you know..."

Peter did know. He went pale, then blind with red fury. Peter was not confrontational, but no one hurt Lily. No one.

"And... Regulus jinxed him. Knocked him into a wall, looked like he broke his rib. The others didn't see it, thought it was a Prefect or something, took off. Regulus stayed behind, made sure I was mostly okay, gave me my wand back."

Peter frowned. "But in the dream... you asked Regulus to 'make it stop'...?"

He trailed off meaningfully.

Lily winced. "In the dream... well... he didn't help me."

Peter flinched backward. His face convulsed into a mask of shock and anger.

" _Who?_ "

"I don't kn-"

" _Don't fucking lie to me._ "

Lily blinked in shock. Kind, quiet Peter was never like this. She looked at him and became angry.

"I don't fucking know, okay? They did something, made it so that their voices were distorted, and they wore hoods... Regulus's fell off, that's how I recognized him. Don't you think I would've told someone? I'm not some goddamn weakling, some damsel in distress, that needs you four to solve my problems. If I knew, they'd be unable to walk right now, if not by my hand then Alice and Marlene's."

Peter cowered under the onslaught of hissed words. "I- I'm sorry, Lily. I didn't-"

Lily's face softened. Her eyes grew heavy with compassion. For as quick to anger and unforgiving as she could be, with a few, like Peter, she could never seem to stay angry for long.

"I know. I'm sorry."

...

"Thank Merlin I'm out of that incredibly dull place they call a Hospital Wing!"

Lily sat down at breakfast on November 2nd gingerly, still careful with her shoulder. She smiled across the table at Sirius before starting to put some eggs on her plate. She froze suddenly, then looked up again.

Sirius's face was pale. Colorless. A tear slipped down his face.

Lily searched his expression, waiting. _More bad news,_ she thought. _Damn this war._

"What is it?"

Sirius slowly looked at her. He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. A barrage of words came spilling from his tongue, so that Lily barely understood him.

"Alice's sister is dead."

 **Dun dun dun!**

 **How're you liking it?**

 **If it seems like I'm just throwing in a plot twist, fixing it right up, and throwing in another, just know it's a war. Things are constantly happening, mostly bad.**

 **Review if you can.**

 **See you guys next week!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

 **A/N at the bottom.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

 _Two weeks earlier_

"Evening Nott."

Alistaere Nott looked up from his book, _Spelles of the Darke and the Arte of Using Them_ , and frowned slightly at the person who had addressed him. He shifted, cursing the old green leather couches of the Slytherin common room. "Snape."

Snape watched him with unreadable black eyes. Outwardly he knew he appeared to be considering his words, but inwardly he was containing his amusement toward the other boy.

When he had met Nott at his Sorting, he had taken an immediate dislike to him.

When he had learned that Nott's mother was Welsh, and spelled her son's name "Alistaere" in an attempt to match her origin, as opposed to the traditional "Alistair", it had turned more to amusement. He regarded the boy as a weakling, one who cared far too much about others' opinions and tried to make himself seem more powerful than he was.

Slytherins were labeled as cunning for a reason. Most saw through Nott's facade instantly, but tolerated him for his family ties. Slytherin hierarchy was a brutal, cutthroat society full of arrogant, aristocratic brats, each word laced with sarcasm, contempt, or insult, however pleasant the word may be. Masters of deceit, these children could have probably done anything had they grouped together, but most saw themselves above the rest, looking down on everyone else as stepping stones. However, once in a while there came a group that truly trusted one another, and a dangerous group they became.

Snapping back to reality, Snape refocused on Nott.

"So how'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Mask your voices. You know, when you attacked the mudblood Evans."

At this point most Slytherins would have closed off, remembering that Snape used to be her best friend. Their self-preservation skills would kick in, overriding their instinct to brag. Nott dimly recalled this, but he was never the smartest one, so he told him, never wondering how Snape knew it was him. In doing so, he unknowingly confirmed Snape's guess.

"An old spell I saw in a book. It rebounds recognizable sound frequencies, makes voices sound completely different. Can't remember the name of it. Or the incantation."

That was a poorly covered lie, and they both knew it. But Severus knew that Nott may not be exceedingly clever, but he was extremely stubborn. So Severus simply nodded, accepted that no further information was going to present itself pertaining to that particular topic, and changed the subject.

"I see. And the curse?"

"Excuse me?"

"Her shoulder. A modified Secarus Curse, was it not?"

Nott blinked, then nodded slowly. "So it was."

Snape cursed to himself. Modified spells usually had no countercurse.

"Interesting. Thank you for your cooperation, Nott. This has been most enlightening."

Each word was coated with a thin layer of dislike, masked by a sugary outercoating of apparently satisfied curiosity. Nott, of course, was never the most perceptive boy, and did not notice.

Snape walked away, eyes flashing, heart pounding, a cold look of steely satisfaction glinting in his eyes.

Slytherins were cunning, yes. Cunning enough to know exactly when to drive a knife through your back.

And Nott's time was rapidly running out.

 **A/N: So basically this takes place two weeks before the last chapter, as will the next... maybe two? Maybe only one. Anyway, this will explain the storyline of Lily's attack in more detail.**

 **See you next week!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **A/N at the bottom, as usual.**

 **Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I'm American. And a boy. So... yeah, I don't own HP.**

"Hello Potter."

James pushed himself up at the wall, wiping imaginary dungeon slime from his clothes, and nodded hesitantly to the newcomer.

"Snape. Any luck?"

The greasy-haired boy pointedly kept his gaze constantly moving, as if he'd run into James accidentally.

"A bit."

"Do you have a name?"

Snape hesitated. "You- you can't tell her I helped you. Or anyone. Except your... _friends_."

He nearly spat out the last word. Old habits die hard.

James frowned. "Why can I tell them?"

Snape shifted from foot to foot, face tense as if it took effort to say it. "I... I trust the werewolf."

"Don't." James snapped suddenly. "Er, I mean... don't call him that. He hates being labeled as that."

"Um... right then. You're looking for Alistaere Nott."

Snape started to move away, but James's arm shot out and grabbed the Slytherin's shoulder.

"Thank you."

Snape shook his head and looked at the taller boy with deep sorrow in his eyes.

"You know I'm not doing it for you." The words had no spite, no venom, no hate. Only an endless, hollowed sort of pain.

James watched sadly as the other boy walked past him, thinking that they weren't so different after all: living the life that their parents wanted them to live, both cast away from the girl they shared a love for. They were really the same, to be honest; just caught on opposite sides.

...

The Hospital Wing's large, scarred oak door creaked slowly open. James winced. The creak could easily be fixed, but he was sure that Madam Pomfrey left in on purpose, to hear any unwanted guests.

He froze for a moment, but when no one appeared to yell at him, he closed it behind him and padded over to a chair beside Lily's bed. He looked at her for a moment, taking in her pale face as she glared at the open book in front of her, and then slowly got up and slipped back out, this time Silencing the door, knowing that no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't stay long.

...

Lily was bored. Incredibly bored.

She had sat in that dull bed in that dull Hospital Wing for ten days, trying to entertain herself and usually failing. She would be okay with it, but Madam Pomfrey informed her that she could not use magic; supposedly it would react badly with the potions and slow down the healing process.

By now, her smaller wounds had closed, and though a wound on her shoulder that Pomfrey suspected was Dark Magic remained, she believed that she would be okay leaving. She had told he nurse as much, but the nurse simply frowned and shook her head. "Dark Magic is tricky," she told her. "You think it is healed, and suddenly it gets worse. Better you stay here."

The door creaked suddenly, and Lily snapped her eyes up from the book that she had read a dozen times already. She watched the door open a few inches, then shut again. Lily frowned and curled her fingers tighter around her wand, but when no attack came, she relaxed slightly. The chair beside her bed made a grinding noise as it moved slightly to the left, just as it did when Sirius flopped carelessly onto it. Furrowing her brow, she slowly, shakily rose from the bed.

She squinted at the chair and moved toward it. She poked her wand- and it only bumped the back of the chair. She laid back down, laughing at her own paranoia, and tried to get the image that she swore she saw-a flash of silver and a warm pair of hazel eyes-out of her thoughts.

Maybe Pomfrey was right. Maybe the wound on her shoulder _was_ messing with her head.

...

"Attacking defenseless girls is a nasty habit, Nott. Is that really what it takes for you to feel powerful? Merlin, you must be weak."

Nott whipped around and sneered as Remus Lupin moved from his place leaning on he wall to the center of the corridor.

"Where's your bodyguard Potter, Lupin? Or your attack dog, Black?"

Remus laughed aloud. "Attack dog? You have absolutely no idea just how right you are. Oh, and by the way, they're not here. I don't need them to put down a pathetic creature like you."

Nott's sneer wavered as Remus raised his wand. Remus didn't look like much, but there was a reason he was vying for top of their class with Lily.

"Fortunately for you, I have bigger fish to fry, as they say. I need names. Names of who attacked her, and who used the Cruciatus. The professors may not have noticed, but I found her. I recognized the signs: eyes rolled back but open, fingers twitching. So give me names."

Nott's Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped. Eyeing the wand pointed at his forehead, he began to speak.

 **A/N: Not the most exciting chapter, but it's a build-up for the next one. Which will be an important one, and the last one before we flash back to the present: everyone remember that bomb I dropped at the end of chapter 8? Yeah, we'll pick up there. Oh, and Remus gets to be a badass. You're welcome.**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

A/N at the bottom, as always.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Slavery is illegal. ("What do you mean, he's not real, so it's technically not slavery? He** ** _is_** **real, you uncultured swine.")**

A week later, four Slytherins were not in their beds that morning.

Mulciber was found tied to the ceiling of the dungeons.

Rosier was gagged in a broom closet.

Avery was found running around a second floor classroom like a chicken with its head cut off, muttering "Never again, lights out, never again, lights out..." The door was unlocked, but the boy was too confused to notice.

And Goyle had been expelled for the use of an Unforgivable Curse.

All of the three boys that remained were bound by the wrists with braided cords, each with a tag that read,

 _Justice is served._

 _-The Marauders_

The teachers puzzled over the vague name, but the Gryffindor Seventh Year girls gave grim, knowing looks to the four boys as Dumbledore gravely announced that Goyle had come to him and confessed, and told him his friends were missing.

...

 _Present_

 _Recap:_

 _"What is it?"_

 _Sirius slowly turned his head and looked at her. He opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. A barrage of words came spilling from his tongue, so that Lily barely understood him._

 _"Alice's sister is dead."_

...

"Dead? What do you mean, dead?"

Lily stared at Sirius, refusing to believe the words that had just come out of his mouth.

"Sarah can't be dead. She-Sirius, this is some sick joke, isn't it? The four of you can't joke about this kind of thing, it's going too far, I swear to Merlin-"

Sirius grabbed her by her shoulders. "Lily, calm down. It's not a joke. Calm down, please. There was an attack in Diagon Alley last night-"

"Bullshit. You're lying to me. Why are you lying to me, Sirius? Please, stop lying to me."

Sirius pulled her into a hug as the first sob wracked her frame, tears spilling from her eyes as she thought of Alice's beautiful ten-year-old sister, who had been so excited for the Hogwarts letter she would never receive.

...

"Alice, open the door. It's Lily. You need to open the door. You don't have to come out, just please open up."

No response.

"Now."

"Go the fuck away."

As Lily tried to protest, she felt the slamming impact of a Knockback Jinx and was sent flying down the dormitory stairs, landing on some cushions Sirius summoned just in time.

Remus and James happened to enter the common room at that moment, and Remus scrambled over to her. "Lily, are you okay?" James shifted from foot to foot, maintaining a distance, not wanting her to blow up at him in the middle of the common room. Again.

"I'm fine. Alice barricaded herself in there, and she won't come out. She won't let anyone in, either."

Remus processed what she said for a moment, then nodded.

Lily, seeing that he was caught up, went to try again. Remus stuck out his arm, blocking her.

"No. I'll talk to her."

Lily frowned, then nodded. Remus had a way with people. If anyone could get through to her, he could.

Remus chewed his lip thoughtfully. After a moment, he narrowed his eyes, then nodded to Lily, and said, "Remember A and S nights? Standard protocol." Lily smiled and raised a practiced arm. "Wingardium Leviosa!" ("Why didn't we ever think of that, Prongs?" "Shut _up_ , Pads.")

Remus was levitated up the stairs, a look of determination on his face. He stepped onto the floor above, gave a thumbs up to show he was okay, and strode toward their dorm.

He banged on the door. "Alice."

"Fuck off." A hollow voice responded.

Remus sighed. "Alice, please."

"Fuck off!"

"No. Alice, open the door-"

They heard a bang, and Remus came flying down the stairs just like Lily, also landing on Sirius's cushions.

The common room went dead silent, what little conversation that had still remained after Lily being jinxed finally quelled. No one did that to a Marauder, especially Remus. No one.

Remus gritted his teeth. He pushed himself up and rolled up his sleeves. Instantly, the other three took a step back, knowing what the gesture meant. Remus was no longer fooling around.

Remus stomped over to the the girl's dormitory staircase, simply silencing the blaring klaxon, and-at this James and Sirius gaped at each other, slightly annoyed at him for not sharing the secret-literally _floated_ up, stepping on air with apparent ease.

Gryffindor house stared. This display of skill was unheard of by a student, and all of them waited with baited breath to see what happened next.

Remus reached the top once more, not even winded, only appearing slightly irritated and concerned.

"Alice, either you open the door or I get in another way."

"Good luck," Alice screamed back.

Remus cocked an eyebrow in challenge. "October 13, 1976."

"I don't need luck," James and Sirius muttered together. "I'm a Marauder."

The rest of the common room frowned, the date making no sense to them, but Alice smiled through the door and Lily smirked from her place down the stairs as they remembered the dare that no one had expected Remus to accept.

Ah, but you do not know that story, do you, dear reader? Let me enlighten you.

It all started when James and Sirius started a game of Truth or Dare, which basically translated to Embarrassing Secret or Performing a Sexual Act/Running Naked Through the Halls/Asking Out McGonagall in Various Obnoxious Ways when it came to them.

But I'm getting off topic. When Remus asked to join for a single round, the other boys, Alice, Lily and Marlene's were surprised. Usually it was just Sirius and James, who made it interesting by never backing down from a dare.

James started by daring Sirius to give Miranda Everly, a very intimidating seventh year, a lap dance.

You can imagine how that went.

After stumbling back to the boys' dorm, the others laughing hysterically as Sirius winced with every step, muttering about learning a hex or two from Miranda to use on James, they sat again.

And the dare was spoken.

It was easy really. Quite simple.

But no one expected Remus to say yes.

"I dare you to make out with the first girl you see when you go down the stairs. Then run out of the portrait hole and count to ten slowly at the top of your lungs while sprinting down the corridor."

The girls blinked, taken aback by Sirius's rather oddly well thought-out dare.

Remus thought for a moment, swept back his sandy hair, and nodded.

"Okay," he said, standing up.

This prompted a gasp from the girls' lips. Lily, who had been studiously ignoring James as she always did, trying to act bored, stared at Remus in shock.

"Really?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah. Come on."

The others followed as Remus started to the door.

"I hope you don't get caught," Marlene joked.

"Yeah, good luck," Alice added.

Remus turned and smirked at them. "I don't need luck. I'm a Marauder, remember?"

With that, he moved carefully down the stairs until he came to Clancy Teller, a pretty girl in the year below who had harbored a crush on him that he'd never admitted to returning, but it was apparent to his friends that he did.

"Sorry about this," he said, and kissed her. She dropped the book she was holding and wrapped her arms around him, threading her fingers into his curly hair.

After several seconds, he pulled away, looking punch-drunk. "I'll- I'll be right back," he stammered. "Sorry!"

He yelled the last word over his shoulder as he barreled through the room to complete his dare.

...

When he came back ten minutes later, breathless and grinning, Peter similarly winded and excited, the others knew the dare was complete.

"Blimey," Peter huffed. "I thought Filch's jaw was going to fall off, seeing Perfect Prefect Moony making such a ruddy noise."

Remus burst out laughing.

...

Remus dated Clancy Teller for most of sixth year before they broke it off, both agreeing they just didn't really have feelings for each other anymore, Clancy looking knowingly at Sirius, a fact unnoticed by Remus. They laughed about that kiss now, and still studied together sometimes, staying reasonably good friends.

Anyway, back to the present.

...

Remus gave the solid door a dubious look before doing what no one had dared to do before; he eyed the door up and down for a moment more before ramming it with his shoulder, his strength amplified from the full moon's proximity, breaking the door clean off its hinges. Remus allowed himself a smirk, proud to have succeeded.

Alice jumped in surprise, and some of the students watching cried out.

Remus stooped, stepped through, and straightened, brushing the dust from his hair. He waved his wand to reattach the door and sat down, unfazed, on the bed across from Alice. "Now then. Let's talk."

 **Classic Marauderness and badass Remus. You are very welcome.**

 **Review if you can! I love it when you do.**

 **See ya next week!**

 ***UPDATED 11/21/17*: I really want a cool Marauders cover art, preferably something with their Animagi. If you know someone or *gasp* are an artist yourself and want to give me an art, that would be awesome! I think I found one I like, but I don't know the artist (I mean I can credit them but I don't technically have permission) so I don't think I can use it. So yeah, if you have something that the artist is okay with me using, PM ME PLS AND THX.**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	12. Chapter 12: James Potter, Head Boy

**Chapter 12: James Potter, Head Boy**

 **A/N at the bottom.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

James Potter. Head Boy.

James Potter never expected the two titles to clash in a sentence, unless the words "is friends with the" (if and when it became Remus) or "hates the" (if it was anyone besides Remus) were between them.

But here he was, the bronze badge gleaming on his robes.

 _Bloody hell,_ he thought. _Dumbledore's gone off the deep end._

...

James was rather thankful that Lily hadn't been in the Head Dorm much between the attack and her friends, and was guilty over being relieved, and confused about why he was guilty, and so on.

Things were complicated, to say the least.

So James did what he always did when he needed to clear his head.

He went flying.

...

James came back from his morning fly exhausted. Despite the chill, which was amplified by the freezing rain, he had shed his shirt sometime during the laps he always ran after dismounting, and hadn't bothered to put it back on.

He sighed, remembering that it was the first Hogsmeade weekend (the planned first weekend was put on hold by Lily's attack) and dreading the tradition that came with it, as he came to the portrait of Wilbur the Wise, which guarded the Head dorms.

With a muttered, "Canis Major," he was in, smiling slightly as he always did at his own personal password.

Resting his broom in its usual spot, James was nearly to his room to get clothes when the icy words made him stop dead.

"Hello Potter. Jump into the Lake for fun?"

James winced and attempted a smile. "Oh... er, hi Evans. No, I just went for a fly, and, well, it's raining-"

"I know that, dimwit. I was being sarcastic."

James's smile became less forced as he raised a challenging eyebrow. "I understand the concept, Evans. I was simply ignoring it."

Lily blinked, taken aback for a moment by the snappy comeback.

Suddenly, James stepped toward her. Her pulse skyrocketed and she had to fight a blush as she suddenly became aware that she was only wearing a large t-shirt and sleep shorts, and that James's eyes kept dipping down momentarily before snapping back up to her face.

Her frown grew as James slowly moved closer and closer to her, blood roaring in her ears.

Just as she thought he would lean down and kiss her-and she didn't know if she would have stopped him-he paused right in front of her.

He reached out and she recoiled. Ignoring her attempts, he grabbed her forearms, moved her to her left, and began making coffee at the pot she had stood in front of.

She paused, catching her breath and trying valiantly not to stare at his bare chest, toned from exercise and covered in sweat and rain.

"What the bloody hell was that for? You could've just asked me to move."

James gave her an amused look. "Ah, but that wouldn't be nearly as fun, Evans."

Lily huffed and moved out of the small kitchenette to the common room. James poured a cup of coffee, added sugar and milk and continued to his room, completely ignoring her. He grabbed a shirt, shorts and trousers and entered the loo.

Lily sighed with relief as she heard the running water. Merlin, she needed to pull it together. What the hell was wrong with her? It was just _Potter_.

Pouring her own cup of coffee, Lily resigned herself to a six-month dance between the two of them, both attempting to provoke and elicit a reaction from the other.

It was going to be a long year.

...

In the shower, James sighed too, resting his head on the tiled wall.

When he'd seen her glance down at his chest, he'd felt a painful, twisting wrench in his gut. He had no idea how he would be able to stand it, being so close to her and not being able to kiss her like he so badly wanted to.

This would be a very long year indeed.

 **A/N: Hehe... hey guys! *ducks rotten fruit* okay, so it's a day late! But I published another story, so... that counts for something, right? Anyway, hope you liked it. I realized I neglected the fact that they were Head Boy and Head Girl. I actually just remembered, but whatever. I checked back, and I don't** ** _think_** **it says at any time anything that contradicts it, but if you see something, let me know. Thanks!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	13. Chapter 13: The Perils of Parties

**Chapter 13: The Perils of Parties**

 **A/N at the bottom.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from the books.**

There were five days that were awaited with bated breath by the students of Hogwarts.

All Hallow's Eve, and the Marauders' birthdays.

Especially Sirius Black's.

The Marauders always threw a rager for Sirius's birthday, mostly to make him forget his family. The fact that this was his last at Hogwarts meant that it had to be even bigger.

Those parties were legendary. You could get in, just about anyone could, but you were bound not to share the password to professors or those who would stop it. If you broke the vow, you would erupt in a fever and received a small unremovable tattoo on your heart that read, _Breaking vows is a very nasty habit._

The four boys used, of course, the Room of Requirement. It unfortunately couldn't-or wouldn't-provide alcohol, but a Hufflepuff by the name of Joshua Ogden, whose uncle was the owner of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey, was happy to oblige.

Now the boys were flitting about the room, checking every detail. They had had a small argument as they always did about Sirius helping with his own party, but in the end the grey-eyed boy had firmly stated that he would not leave, so they were forced to agree.

Currently, Remus was worrying over the binding charm ("It's a bit... _cruel,_ don't you think?) Peter was annoyed by the banners that refused to flash "You're eighteen, damn you, you old codger" in red and gold, Sirius was persuading him to use something stronger ("Ugly, annoying git has a _much_ better ring to it though, don't you think?") and James was, of course, obsessing over Lily.

The others simply ignored him, having had much practice after sharing a dorm for six years.

James had not seen Lily since their... _encounter_ that morning, and couldn't help but wonder if she was coming. If the last party they had both attended served as an accurate example, probably not.

...

"Party's wild, isn't it?"

Lily smiled and nodded politely at the boy that had stumbled over to her. He was sort of cute, with curly brown hair and heterochromatic eyes, one a deep green, the other a bright blue. He was in the year below, if she remembered correctly. Collin... Collin Smith, that was it.

"Er, do you... do you want to dance?"

Lily looked at him carefully; over his shoulder she could see a group of boys sneering at him, having clearly dared him to go over. Collin shuffled awkwardly and ran a hand through his curls. He obviously expected to be rejected, perhaps rudely, and be mocked by his so-called friends.

 _Fuck it,_ Lily thought.

"Sure."

Collin's head snapped up. "R-really?"

Lily smiled and took his hand. "C'mon. It's just a dance, don't take it too seriously."

She moved across the large room, dragging the flustered boy behind her.

...

A few minutes later, Lily smiled at Colin and leaned down to kiss his cheek-he was a few inches shorter than her, standing at only about five-six. He blushed deeply and she laughed.

"Maybe we can study together or something sometime."

Collin nodded fervently. "That would be fantastic!"

Just as he turned to leave, babbling pleasantries, she called after him. "Oh, and Collin?"

He turned, eyes twinkling with excitement.

"Go for it," Lily winked. "Rachel has a crush on you, everyone knows that."

Collin reddened again and smiled back. "Thanks!"

He pulled her in a hug and she laughed again, ruffling his hair. As he made his way back to his slack-jawed friends, a new spring in his step, Lily allowed herself to feel the tiredness, stress and annoyance that she had held back for the sake of fun. N.E.W.T.S. were even harder than O.W.L.S., and avoiding James seemed more and more impossible each moment.

Lily pushed through the crowded room, its high vaulted ceiling covered with banners and other decorations, tables lining the walls with the table of honor at the spot a throne would sit in a room that contained one, with the four Marauders sitting in chairs of finely carved wood and Sirius sitting on a regal monstrosity that resembled the aforementioned throne.

She moved through the doors to the balcony, too tired to care how the hell the room had a balcony when it was near the center of the seventh floor.

She sighed in relief as she saw that it was empty, moved the curtains that separated it from the room closed, and moved toward the railing, looking up at the sprawling universe painted in stardust above her, a beauty no muggle or wizard could even hope to match.

A moment later, she heard a noise. A crunch of a boot on the gravel, a simple sound, but that was all it took for her to spin around and find none other than the boy she dreaded seeing, the one and only James Potter, leaning by the balcony entrance with a slightly cautious expression.

His hair melted into the inky black, the dark clothes he wore intertwined with the night itself, so that she could not see where he ended and the void began, or was it the other way around? He grinned at her, pearly white teeth flashing, cementing him for a moment, anchoring him to reality, and then the moment was over, and he was indistinguishable from the void again. Standing there, at one with the very thing that small children feared, he looked like the devil himself, or perhaps the most beautiful angel, he looked to be both at the same time and he knew it, he knew his place, he knew who he was, he knew. He was the source of nightmares draped in the essence of daydreams; his eyes glowed as if trapped souls were trying to escape, or maybe it was because light simply radiated from his every pore, for he was light, most decidedly so, light and good and free and happy, but he was dark, oh yes, dark and wild, untamed and impossible to catch, to pin down, no one ever truly saw him, just like the darkness he so perfectly fit into, except in that moment Lily did, Lily saw him, really saw him, and she could read him like an open book, his leaning body was really leaning against the balcony because he was so exhausted he could barely support his own weight, not for comfort, his smile was strained and worried, eyes flicking from spot to spot, but before she could really look into those eyes, into the windows of the soul as they called them, he pulled away, the instant passed, his mask fell back, and he spoke a single word.

"Hello."

 **A/N: Hello again! I just wanted to say this:**

 **I know my writing has been rather poor lately, more filler content than anything. The truth is, sometimes I rush to make the deadline. But I have good news; I will try harder to make it good! Review if you can, its always nice. Hope you like it and I'll see you next week.**

 **Adios,**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	14. Chapter 14: The Potter Made of Gold

**Chapter 14: The Potter Made of Gold**

 **A/N at the bottom.**

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.**

His voice was smooth and liquid, like flowing honey. They said he had a silver tongue, did James Potter, able to talk his way out of anything. But Lily knew better. James Potter had no silver tongue, no silver anything in fact.

No, James Potter was purely gold.

His eyes of hazel, green and brown melding into an endless sea, had flecks of gold that caught the light when he threw his head back to laugh.

His skin was a warm golden brown with his tan.

His hair had very faint, fine gold tips in the deepest part of the summer, when he would stay outside from sunrise to sunset.

Like the colors of the house he was so proud to belong to, James's soul was painted in hues of gold and red, the colors of flame.

How accurate that was.

James was like fire in every way.

He was passionate in his views, loyal until the end, and a warm, kind beacon of hope.

James was like fire in the way that his eyes glittered when he smiled a true smile, in the way the corners of his eyes crinkled, in the way he would laugh until he couldn't breath or shout until he forgot what he was shouting about.

He was bright and quick and warm and so unbelievably happy.

Yes, James was like fire.

Or perhaps...

Perhaps fire was like James.

...

James pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and took one out, flicking his lighter open. He didn't bother to offer Lily one, knowing it would only earn him a glare. He lit the cig and sighed resignedly. "I hate parties."

Lily stepped forward impulsively and plucked the cigarette from his lips. Instead of grinding it into the ground or Vanishing it as he expected, she took a drag.

"Why is that?"

James squinted at her, puzzled, but decided to play along.

"Well, there're always people that want something from you."

Lily handed back the cigarette and shifted to lean against the archway that led out to the balcony. "Like what?"

"Oh, you know... attention, money, alcohol... sex..." James seemed to cringe at the last word, as if suddenly realizing his mistake.

To his surprise, Lily simply nodded. "I get the picture. You just always seem like you're enjoying yourself."

James's smile turned sheepish and his cheeks reddened slightly. "Well, to be honest... since second year I mostly showed up because I was hoping you would be there."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "'Since second year'? You barely even talked to me until... you know."

James rubbed his neck self-consciously. "Yeah. I was... kind of a wimp. Pretty much until... about fifth year. And then I went about not being a wimp in the most asshole way possible."

Immediately Lily remembered another reason he was so comparable to fire, the reason she had hated him for an entire year.

He'd bullied younger students.

He'd hurt her friend.

And he'd ripped his way through her life with the force of a blazing inferno.

"I, er... I should probably get back to... y'know..."

Lily tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace, the memories of fifth year still fresh in her mind. "Um... yeah. Tell-tell Sirius I said happy birthday. I have to go too, to make sure Alice isn't completely pissed."

"Right."

With that she left, James staring after her with stormy eyes, wishing he could just give in to his feelings.

...

"So I saw you talking with Evans and you seem to be intact. I assume it went well?"

James winced. "Er... ish."

"Well either way, just be glad she didn't see the look you gave her as she left. You looked like you wanted to push her up against the wall and fu-"

"ANYWAY," Remus said loudly. "She appears to be warming up a bit. That can't be bad, right?"

James gave a weak smile. "I hope so. But you never know with her; it could just be the calm before the storm..."

...

Remus inwardly resolved to forget all of his problems for the next two hours and put on a smile as he sat down next to Lily. "Hey."

Lily smiled back. "What's up Lupin?"

Grinning even wider, Remus pulled out his book just as Slughorn began to speak.

"Today, class, we will continue the theory of the brewing of Veritaserum. Now, can anyone tell me who invented it?"

No hands came up.

"Mr. Lupin?"

Remus groaned silently and sat up straighter. "Was it Icarus Brectis, sir?"

"Not quite, Mr. Lupin. He invented a lesser version, but the true invention is credited to his son, Dastus. I expect you to know the answer the next time my boy, but I won't judge too harshly, you usually do."

Remus put on a smile that only his friends could see was sarcastic. "Of course, professor!"

"Fuck you, Professor!" He muttered in a very fake cheery voice, and Lily giggled.

"Is everything all right back there, Mr. Lupin?"

"Yes sir, just reminding Lily of that essay that's due Thursday."

"I see, of course. Just try to remember on your own, Miss Evans!"

"Yes sir!" Lily responded with a smile equally as fake as Remus's. "Burn in hell, sir!" She muttered in that same mockingly bright tone, and they burst out laughing as they always did at their habit; they always did it when the lecture was boring.

Slughorn took a breath and began droning on again.

"Now remember, -ation is the key to brewing Veritaserum. Concentration, determination-"

"-starvation, petrol station, anal penetration," Remus continued in a perfect imitation of the man, sending Lily into another fit of laughter.

 **I love writing sassy Remus/Lily. I picture him both as very sarcastic and witty, and when they were together, they would drive the others insane.**

 **Anyway, drop a review if you can as always; I appreciate it. Hope you liked it. If you have any suggestions, feel free to PM me!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter WhatFUCKINGever:**

 **Disclaimer: Only what you do not recognize is mine.**

"...and James Potter with Chelsea Demara."

A loud groan followed by a poorly covered snicker pierced the room at Professor Drenton's words as James banged his head repeatedly on the desk and Sirius grinned unabashedly at his friend's misfortune.

Chelsea Demara was probably the only Hufflepuff that was actually hated. She was stuck-up, self-righteous and had a superiority complex to go with her "holier-than-thou" attitude. She was pretty, with graceful features that accented her rather stunning sky blue eyes, but it was a cold, distant beauty.

She also happened to not-so-subtly fancy the aforementioned James Potter.

...

"No, Draco is a bit more to the east, see? And there's Scorpius, and over there are Andromeda and Orion."

Remus smiled bashfully. "Sorry, Lily. I'm not at full concentration, to be honest. I'm just... not feeling well, if you catch my drift," he said, glancing up at the nearly-full moon.

Nodding her understanding, Lily just countered with a smile, "I'll guess you'll just have to help a lot this weekend, eh?"

Remus winked dramatically. "Sure," he said, deliberately drawing out the word.

Lily just laughed.

At that precise moment, Sirius stuck his head in their direction. "I can do it for you if you want, Moony." He said with a wink if his own.

Remus looked away, chinks dusted pink, and Lily grinned inside. They were so damn cute.

Sirius watched Remus with an adoring look that immediately disappeared when the werewolf looked back up.

Lily sighed in aggravation. Practically all of Gryffindor House had bets on when they would get together. The only ones who didn't know were, as cliche as it sounded, Sirius and Remus themselves.

They'd make the perfect couple, was the popular opinion. They were smart, funny, dramatic, well-liked: they had all the qualities of a power couple.

A shriek of laughter interrupted her musings. Lily looked over to see Chelsea laughing much too loudly, with James miming beating himself over the head with his telescope and shooting 'help me' glances over to his friends.

Peter finally took pity on him. He moved over and began an animated conversation with James about Quidditch (of course) simply returning Chelsea's glares with a 'fuck you' sort of smile.

...

"So, Hogsmeade this weekend, eh Remus? Got any special girls... or boys?" Lily elbowed him, smirking.

Ducking his head, Remus mumbled a no and walked a bit faster.

Lily arrived at the Head Common Room and said clearly, "Muckle."

Remus gave her an odd look. She just raised her eyebrows enigmatically. "You know... 'many mickles make a muckle'? That's my favorite expression."

Remus shook his head, smiling despite himself. "You are something else."

As they entered the common room, they simultaneously sighed when Chelsea Demara's voice rang out.

"You know you can't have guests in the common room without permission from McGonagall, _Lily_ ," Chelsea sang out.

Lily gave her a snarky look and replied, "He's not going to the common room, Chelsea," and made her way to her room, leaving a gaping Chelsea sitting on the couch, tugging Remus along behind her, brushing past a very confused James who tried a "wh... whaaa?", to which Remus gave a shrug, and shut her door behind her.

Once inside, Remus and Lily immediately collapsed in fits of giggles, rolling around on the floor.

"Did-did you see-her face-" Remus cried.

"P-priceless," Lily gasped out.

 **So how you been? I personally love to hate characters, so I created one easy to hate. You're welcome!**

 **Anyway, hope you liked it, naturally. I'm not positive if I'll get a chapter out next Monday- it is Christmas after all. But I'll try! I friggin love you guys every time you review. (Don't take that weirdly, alright?) So please do if you can! See you next week (maybe) and thanks for reading!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: A Second Kiss Should Make Things Less Complicated... Shouldn't It?**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!**

"Morning, Evans."

"Hey, Potter."

The entire Gryffindor House Table froze as James went to sit down next to the fiery Head Girl and-more importantly-she let him, even giving him a welcoming smile.

Remus frowned. "What's this? A normal conversation between you two? Padfoot, you spiked my drink again, didn't you?"

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, what's going on here? Are you... _friends_?" He wiggled his eyebrows, clearly implying much more than friendship.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Very funny. We're just trying to be reasonably nice to each other. Arguing all the time is getting annoying."

Remus smirked. "And what did it take to get to this point?"

Lily smirked back. "Four hexes, lots of screaming, a few slaps on the face, and... four broken plates?"

"Five," James corrected.

Lily nodded. "Right, five."

She glanced at James. "And by then we'd pretty much worked it out." She left out the half hour that she had spent comforting the spectacled boy as he finally released some long-overdue tears over his mother, Alice's sister, and all the others that had been lost. That was staying between the two of them.

Sirius looked between them with a grin. "'Worked it out'? Bullshit. You shagged, didn't you?" He said much too loudly (on purpose, of course).

The entire table burst into applause, wolf-whistles and catcalling scattered in, shouts of, "Took you long enough!" and "Finally!" being called from everywhere.

James became President of the Tomato Look-Alikes Club, and Lily sighed, her cheeks also a little rosy-and not from the steaming bowl of porridge in front of her. "I... no, we didn't... OI! COULD YOU ALL SHUT THE FUCK UP?"

Silence.

Lily nodded. "Good. Now: no, we didn't shag," here she mimed a face of disgust, and to everyone's surprise, James laughed. "I repeat, we are just trying to be civil. We're Heads, and it wouldn't do for us to be at it like idiots."

Peter cocked an eyebrow. "Are you _sure_ you didn't shag?"

A few laughs rang out again and Remus smacked Peter on the back of his head. ("Ouch! Oh come on Moony, just because _Sirius_ won't shag _you_ -" _smack_ "OW! Damn, Sirius, that hur-aw, you're blushing!" _smack_ "OKAY I GET IT GUYS.")

Grateful for the distraction, James had pulled a few strips of bacon, a couple of eggs and a small bowl of porridge onto his plate and was eating rapidly, clearly trying to get out as fast as possible. Maybe he could avoid her for a little while; wasn't sure exactly how annoyed she was, and didn't want to find out the hard way.

...

"Today we will pair up based on skill, and brew potions according to such. I will choose the pairs," Slughorn added when James and Sirius grinned at each other and Remus nodded to Lily. "Just for that, Mr. Lupin with Mr. Black, Mr. Potter with Miss Evans. Oh, and Mr. Pettigrew with Miss MacDonald, yes that will work."

Peter seemed to be the only happy one as Slughorn continued rattling off names, moving to sit with the quiet, pretty Gryffindor as she smiled at him. Remus and Sirius smiled awkwardly at each other, both hoping the other would think that they were sweating from the steam of the large cauldron in front of them.

But the pair everyone watched with bated breath was the one that Slughorn had called second. But, disappointing the curious bunch, James simply gave a cursory nod to his partner as Slughorn gave them their potion, the highly complicated Draught of Living Death, and went to the cupboard to get the ingredients.

As he moved into the space that those in the classroom couldn't see, however, James released the breath he'd been holding and cursed his Professor-the man had tried to get them together since sixth year, 'the power couple of Hogwarts', he liked to call them. Or rather, what he called the couple he wished they would be.

It was hard enough being around her, now they had to be civil? The arguing was a shield, something that prevented them from getting close. James groaned. _This year can't end fast enough,_ he thought for the millionth time.

So much for avoiding her.

...

A few days passed, and their civil act blossomed into an actual friendship, built upon jokes, sarcasm and fierce study debates. One in particular was rather memorable, and is a story that all who lived at Hogwarts then remember fondly. Even the teachers tell it sometimes, eyes misting when they think of the bright young students that were lost far too soon in a war that claimed the lives of far too many.

...

"Well, technically Maston the Martyr wasn't burned until 1347, in the Stastle Burnings, so the True Witch Trials actually lasted four years."

"True, but Denfil Nosta wasn't an actual wizard, so one could argue that they weren't all 'true witches'."

"Well actually in Booke of The Byrned, it says that there is evidence he may have been a Squib, so-"

"'May have been'. They are not certain."

"Well, they found a wand that n his mother's room after she died, and supposedly his house appeared much larger on the inside, a clear Undetectable Extension Charm-"

"Ah, but there it is again. A stick that happened to have unicorn hair on it-and you know that it tends to get caught on trees, with new branches forming around it-and 'supposedly' it looked bigger. You honestly have no case."

James looked up from the History of Magic Textbook to see Lily smirking at him.

"Nice, Evans. You'll crush N.E.W.T.S. if you keep that up."

Lily sighed. "I hope so." She shifted her legs, which were laying in James's lap. "Astronomy will be a doozy, though."

James gave her an amused look. "Well if you didn't take _eight classes_ it might be easier."

Lily frowned. "Oh, shove off, you prat. At least I got an Outstanding on my Potions O.W.L."

"Oh, we both know Slughorn had it in for me!"

Lily scoffed. "Sure he did."

James pushed her legs onto the floor. "Well if you want to be like that, I won't be your personal cushion," he teased.

Lily leaned toward him and cocked a brow. "You know you love to be my personal cushion."

"With every breath I take," he agreed, also leaning in, eyes sparkling at the banter.

Their faces were only a few inches apart now.

"Are you flirting with me, James Potter?"

"Do you want it to be flirting, Lily Evans?"

A mere centimeter separated them. Hot breath from each other's mouths mingled between them.

To the day they died, neither knew who leaned in first, but suddenly the gap was closed, and they were kissing.

It wasn't like last summer, when James had stood frozen and Lily had kissed him desperately. No, this was gentle, and slow, lips brushing over one another for a mere few seconds before they pulled away.

So close that their lips brushed again when she spoke, Lily whispered, "Yes."

Suddenly, they both jerked backward, eyes wide.

"I-er- I'm sorry, I-I didn't-" James stammered, blushing furiously, hand automatically going to his hair.

"No, it's-it's fine, it's okay, it was my fault too.." Lily muttered, also a brilliantly proud member of the TLC.

"Right... er, I-I'm sorry. I'm just gonna-" He gestured to his room. "Y'know."

Lily nodded quickly. "Yeah, okay, cool. Right then. Me-me too."

They both practically ran into their rooms, dropping on their respective floors and leaning their heads on their respective doors, mirroring each other unknowingly.

A kiss doesn't always make things less complicated.

Just the opposite, sometimes.

 _ **Tension. Suspensssssssse. AAAAAAAAANGST!**_

 **So I got an update in! I wasn't sure if I would. Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS if you celebrate it. I don't really know when Hanukkah ends or when Kwanza is but if it's going on, Happy Hanukkah/Kwanza! (I don't mean to be rude, I honestly don't know, I'm sorry). Anyway, what did you think? A bit of a rollercoaster of a chapter, huh? Sorry the last few were kind of fillers; had to build this one up! Let me know if you have any thoughts or criticism, just please keep it civil.**

 **As always, I thank those who take the time to read the writings of a boy who likes Harry Potter a bit more than he'd care to admit. What would I do without you?**

 ***UPDATE*: 12/25/17: Guest reviewer of Chapter 3: That's because I grew up the only boy in a house with two sisters. And I read a lot of fanfiction by people that _do_ know a lot about makeup. I try my best, but if I make a mistake, don't be too harsh. **

**~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.**

"You're up early, Prongs."

James glanced up from his book, _The Wandering Way of Wodenwald_ , and smiled.

Remus, Sirius and Peter were grinning slightly confusedly down at him.

"The early bird gets the worm," James replied, eyes twinkling at his own joke.

"Must be one special bird," Peter said.

"That's not much of a reward, now, is it? It is a rather small worm." Sirius said at the same time.

The two looked at each other and smirked while Remus rolled his eyes and James glared playfully.

"Oh, very good, Padfoot. I'm so impressed to see that you held off a solid three seconds before making a dick joke."

Peter gave him a weird look and said carefully, "Um... why are you sitting in the middle of a corridor... at four in the morning... on a Saturday?"

James looked around slowly. "Oh. Er... I'm not exactly sure."

It was then that Remus frowned, suddenly noticing the slight slur in James's words. He looked closer and saw the telltale shadows under the eyes that looked blearily even through his glasses, the permanently raised eyebrows that helped keep the hazel orbs open, the way he sat, using as little effort as possible, leaning on the wall far more than he normally would; Remus had seen the signs on himself all too often.

"You didn't sleep at all last night, did you?"

The other two glanced at Remus, then looked back at James.

Sirius, forever James's mother hen, squinted at him. "Why weren't you sleeping?"

The spectacled boy glared at Remus for real this time. "Gee, _thanks_ , Moony. I appreciate you broadcasting that."

Remus started to answer, but Peter's quiet voice cut him off.

"You never answered the question."

James turned his stare onto the blond boy and raised an accusatory eyebrow, but the effect was dimmed by exhaustion.

"I realize that, Wormtail."

A pause. Then-

"Are you going to?"

"He doesn't need to." A slightly hoarse voice said from their right. All four boys jumped.

Lily Evans, looking slightly worse for wear, was leaning against a classroom doorway, arms folded, smirking at their reaction.

"I'll tell you, since we all know that James is stubborn as all hell."

The other three grinned at that, and James frowned in mock outrage.

"I kissed him. He kissed me back. Now it's bloody awkward."

To say that jaws hit the floor was an understatement. The other three boys were gaping, eyes flicking from a slightly flushed but mostly amused Lily to a shocked James, whose face was turning a variety of rather impressive colors.

"Great. So now that that's cleared up, I'll see you later."

Her laughter rang down the hall as the boys stood frozen, incredulous expressions still fixed on their faces.

...

"Couldn't you have waited another, like, week? I had my money on Christmas."

Lily looked up from her Transfiguration homework, flicked her wand to clean up the spilled ink, and gave him a snarky look. "Bugger off, Black."

"No, I'm serious."

"No shit."

The grey-eyed boy sighed. "Bloody hell, isn't that joke getting a little old?"

Marlene grinned from her place next to Lily on the small, worn maroon sofa. "Ah, come on. It's a classic."

After giving a sarcastic smile very similar to Lily had, Sirius groaned dramatically and dropped a bag of Galleons into Alice's lap.

"There. All the winnings. I took the pleasure in collecting them for you. I may have taken a few, though." He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm an annoying little shit at heart."

Alice gave him a funny look. "But the bet was..."

She whipped her head to look at Lily.

"You didn't tell me!"

Lily winced before it dawned on her. She looked at Sirius. "You started a bet on when James and I would kiss again? _Really_ , Sirius?"

He held his hands up defensively. "Oh, come on, Lils! It was just supposed to be a joke, I didn't expect people to actually start betting!"

Lily looked left and right, where both of her friends were giving her accusing looks.

"Okay, come on. Bye... _Padfoot_."

Sirius's eyes went wide at the name. Ignoring Alice and Marlene's questioning looks, Lily pulled them up the stairs to the girls dorm, silently thanking Merlin that it was a Saturday and at the same time cursing Sirius.

As they sat down on their respective beds, Lily folded her arms and waited until the protests and glared died out.

"You two done? Good. Now, I was going to tell you tonight anyway. It was only last night. So it happened like this..."

 **A/N: I'M SO SORRY THAT THIS IS A DAY LATE! I lost track of time and it was New Years-by the way, Happy 2018!-okay, anyway. Can you guys forgive me? Pleeeeeeease?**

 **Anyway, filler chapter, kind of crappy writing but I needed to get this put of the way. Now the real drama begins. Get ready.**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18:**

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter was never mine, and sadly probably never will be.**

Christmas morning came to Hogwarts in a frenzy of lazily drifting snowflakes and the excited squeals of the castle's inhabitants. The only inhabitants of the Gryffindor Common room were a group of seven seventh years (try saying that ten times fast) that was made up by Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Alice Fortescue, Marlene McKinnon, Mary MacDonald, and, of course, Lily Evans (otherwise the plot wouldn't be nearly as interesting).

Currently, they were sprawled across chairs and sofas, all laughing at a joke that would be forgotten in five minutes, the perfect picture of a happy, healthy group of friends defying the world and all its darkness, seemingly untouched by the war that plagued their world.

But nothing lasts forever.

...

Those who hadn't already fallen asleep by midnight didn't bother going back to their beds, and several woke up the next morning with cricks in their necks and sore backs or arms, but they didn't care.

Why should they? It had been a perfect Christmas Day.

...

"...exactly! We only get detention if we get caught. And we all know the odds of that."

Remus gave him an incredulous look. "You've had three hundred and seventy-six detentions! I'd say the odds are pretty damn high!"

"Seventy-seven. You forgot to add the one from making the Slytherins' food blow up at breakfast last week..." James trailed off at Remus's arched eyebrow. "But that's not the point anyway, Moony. My point is, how can they trace it back to us?"

"It's _always_ us, Prongs!"

"Do you really think McGonagall can win with that reasoning?"

Peter and Remus looked at each other and then back at James. "Yes!" They both said loudly.

Sirius threw his arms around their shoulders. "Aw, come on, Moony! Where's your sense of adventure?"

Remus shrugged off his arm but sighed resignedly. "We're gonna do this no matter what, aren't we?"

"Yep," James and Sirius said simultaneously.

Remus threw up his hands. "Why do I even bother?"

...

"Potter! Black! Mr. Lupin! Mr. Pettigrew! Come with me!"

The four boys flinched as McGonagall's voice sounded like the crack of a whip.

"Hey! Why don't I get a 'Mr.'?" James said indignantly.

McGonagall gave him a look that was anything but amused. "You two are in my office so often we are practically on a first name basis," she said to James and Sirius, who both grinned unabashedly.

"Glad you said so, Minnie, I rather like the idea," Sirius smiled widely.

McGonagall rolled her eyes and muttered, "I don't get payed enough to deal with you two."

She shifted and locked eyes with Remus. "Mr. Lupin. Would you like to tell me why the Slytherin common room was bright pink this morning and decorated with small lions that showered red and gold glitter down on the unfortunate students that passed by?"

Remus put on a perfectly innocent face. "I have absolutely no idea. Though I must say it sounds rather ingenious."

McGonagall nodded and pursed her lips. "I thought not. The charmwork was much too sloppy to be you."

"Hey, we were in a hurry!" Sirius said before realizing his mistake.

James groaned and banged his head on McGonagall's desk. "Seven years. Seven years we've been pulling pranks at this school, and you still can't learn how to shut it?"

McGonagall gave them a rather worrying smile. "One week's detention."

James gaped. "That's it?"

Peter clapped a hand over the spectacled boy's mouth. "Shut it before she changes her mind!" He hissed.

"...And I will be writing to each of your mothers."

The four boys all froze, blood draining from their faces. McGonagall stood and ushered them out into the corridor.

No one spoke for a long time until Remus broke the silence.

"Well, we're fucked."

...

James Potter was only scared of two things.

The death of someone he cared about.

And his mother when she was angry.

Which was very sensible, the author feels compelled to add.

His mother was terrifying when she was angry.

Just how terrifying?

James was about to find out.

...

"Well, this is the end," James gulped as his owl flew in clutching two scarlet letters.

"And in fly the consequences," Sirius said, cringing.

They were a dramatic lot.

The four of them broke into a run as soon as they received their letters, heading for the great oak doors that led out of the Great Hall.

They had just made it into the corridor when it began.

"JAMES CHARLUS POTTER! YOU HAVE GALLIVANTED OFF ON YOUR LITTLE BLOODY ADVENTURES FOR THE LAST TIME! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, ACTING IN SUCH A WAY-"

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK! I TAKE YOU IN EXPECTING YOU TO BE AS KIND AND STRAIGHT-LACED AS SCHOOL AS YOU ARE HERE. CLEARLY I WAS MISTAKEN-"

"REMUS JOHN LUPIN, I EXPECTED BETTER FROM YOU! YOU ARE A PREFECT, AND YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER! WHEN YOU GET HOME-"

"PETER PETTIGREW! Well done, son! Oh, it was brilliant-" his mother's voice sounded in the background. "DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM, MATTHEW!"

Peter stifled a laugh. His father had been very happy when he'd learned that Peter had made friends that had practically beaten away his shyness with a stick. Matthew had been even more excited when he learned of their pranks. Peter's mother? Not so much, but she still found it a _bit_ entertaining.

As the other Howlers finally finished their rants, the four boys stared at each other before Remus spoke up.

"McGonagall wrote to our mothers, she said. She wrote to Ms. Potter for you, Sirius."

Sirius's eyes lit up. "She did, didn't she?"

...

Lily was nearly asleep when James came in that night, the night of December 27th.

He slipped through the door and quietly closed it behind him. She heard feet padding into the kitchen and didn't bother opening her eyes; it took far too much effort.

She practically held her breath as she heard him moving toward her.

The footsteps stopped.

Lily almost let her eyes drift open, but stopped them at the last moment. Now she was really holding her breath.

She felt a blanket being draped over her and suppressed a smile. But the next thing that he did made her thoughts screech to a halt.

She felt a hand gently brush a lock of hair from her face, almost tenderly, and a pair of lips, feather-light, brush her forehead.

The hand started to move away, and she opened her eyes, reached up, and grabbed it.

And stared into the shocked face of someone who was decidedly not James Potter.

 **A/N: Cliffhanger anyone? You can thank she-who-loves-fanfiction for that. She (I'm assuming it's a she considering the name) sort of inspired it; she's done it enough.**

 **Hope you guys liked it. See you next week!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19:**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

 **A/N: Really quickly because I had to-**

 **Sherlock Harry Winchester** **: "A brotherly way"? You are so very close without even knowing it. You'll see what I mean.**

Lily stared up at a pretty face with blue-green eyes and blond hair-a very familiar face.

" _Petunia_?"

...

Call it melancholy, call it nostalgia, call it whatever you want; James Potter wished that things were how they used to be.

None of this weird routine of eyes shifting away when they made eye contact and avoiding the other as much as possible.

When he came to the entrance of the Head Dorms, he paused for a moment to redo the top button that had come undone somehow, smooth his hair out (though that didn't do much) and cast a charm to wipe away the scent of perfume.

Damn fifth years and their damn love potions.

He'd spent half the night that they were supposed to spend studying and planning pranks (mostly the latter) trying to restrain (and when that only made one giggle and say "Kinky," practically run away from) the two girls that had been under the potion's influence.

He entered the Head common room and froze.

Lily was sitting on the couch, talking to a tall, bony blond girl who James recognized from his visit to her house last summer.

"...Hello?"

Both girls turned to look at him. Lily smiled. "James! You've met Petunia, haven't you?"

"Yeah... er, I mean, yes, I remember. How are you Petunia?"

"Fine," the girl said stiffly, clearly trying hard not to glare.

"Petunia was just telling me Dumbledore gave her permission to come personally to tell me something."

Petunia nodded. "I'm getting married," she said simply.

"Tuney! that's great!" Lily squealed.

"And you can't be the maid of honor."

Lily stilled. "What? But-but we've been talking about this moment since we were kids, we always said we'd be each other's maids-"

"Vernon found out. He doesn't want you in the wedding-"

"To hell with Vernon! What do _you_ want?"

Petunia's stare could drill through steel. "I don't want you in the wedding either."

Lily drew in a sharp breath. "What? W-why? Is it because I'm a witch and you're not? Tuney I'm sorry, I didn't choose this, I-"

"THEY'RE _DEAD_ BECAUSE OF YOU!" Petunia's voice shook with hysteric anger.

Lily stopped. "Who?" She was terrified she already knew the answer to that question.

"YOU _KNOW_ WHO! MUM! DAD! OUR _PARENTS_!"

If Lily had been standing, she would've sat down then. "They-they're dead?"

"DON'T ACT LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW. OF COURSE THEY'RE DEAD, AND ITS YOUR BLOODY FAULT! THE DAMN WIZARD POLICE-"

"Aurors," James, who had been largely forgotten, provided.

Petunia's voice lowered to a menacing hiss. "Yes, pardon my mistake, the _Aurors_. They told me it was some people called the Death Eaters, is that some sort of stupid gang? Did they die because of some _stupid gang_?"

Lily was still, tears coursing down her cheeks. She gave no response.

"They're not just a gang. They're dangerous. Really dangerous." This came again from James, standing awkwardly in the kitchenette.

"Hey Pretty Boy, could you get the hell out of here? Me and my sister can work things out on our own, thanks."

"In case you didn't notice, _love_ , I _live_ here, so how about _you_ get the hell-"

"Please leave, James."

James looked at Lily, who was wiping away tears with her sleeve and running her other hand through her messy hair.

He nodded. "Okay... okay, yeah, right. G'night then."

He moved slowly into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

Lily looked back at her sister. "I didn't know they were dead."

Petunia softened slightly, reaching out a hand, before staring at it and drawing it back, lips curling into a sneer.

"I can't even get married in peace because of you. Because of your world. Because of your _stupid magic_."

"Please, Tuney..." Lily begged, more tears leaving trails down her flushed cheeks.

Petunia looked at her with contempt. "Look at you. A witch, how wonderful it is to have a witch as a sister!" She cried sarcastically. "A witch who gets her parents killed and begs like a dog. Pathetic," she hissed. She stomped over to the door.

"I'm sorry Tuney, please don't leave, please, I love you!"

Petunia stilled, hand on the doorknob.

"How could I ever love you?" She whispered.

Lily's expression turned from distraught to utterly broken.

"You're not welcome in my home. Stay out of my life, you _freak_."

The childhood insult hit Lily with the force of a brick, and as the door slammed shut she began to sob freely, all semblance composure gone.

A few moments later, a door creaked open and Lily felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turned and buried her face in James's shirt, breathing in the comforting smell of pine and broom polish he always seemed to give off.

Tears soaked the cotton as she cried, cried for her parents, cried for her sister, cried for everything she'd ever lost, the torrent of tears she'd held back all year finally pouring out.

And James held her, murmuring comforting things into her hair and making sure she couldn't see or feel his own tears as he rocked back and forth, soothing the girl he was trying so hard not to love.

 **A/N: Give me an A! An N! A G! An S! And a T! What does that spell?** ** _ANGST_** **!**

 **You're welcome.**

 **See you next week.**

 **Unless one of you murders me for dropping that bomb on you.**

 **Then again, if that happened, you'd never find out what happens at the end.**

 **And we all know you want to find out.**

 **You really, really want to.**

 **That's probably the only reason I'm not dead already.**

 **Review if you can!**

 **Thanks for reading, and thanks for dealing with writing that is downright shitty sometimes.**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20:**

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter still isn't mine... yet.**

Lily was on her way to breakfast when she heard the screams.

"James! _James_! No, please, James, wake up, wake up, please, James don't leave me James _please_ -"

Her heart slammed down to her stomach and the world fell around her. Distantly, some part of her knew she should be running to help, but she was frozen. Her eyes were open but she saw not what was in front of her, no, all she could see was James, _her_ James, the bright, happy boy with the crooked smile, James, the amazing, kind, hilarious, mischievous boy that had so much potential, such a bright future, crumpling to the ground in a flash of light, no cries for help or mercy, no, James Potter would never beg, he would die with bravery in his heart and defiance in his eyes, oh his eyes, the golden, flaming eyes of James Potter, eyes so light and carefree and deep and alive-all she could see was the light in those magnificent eyes fading, fading into the blank stare of death, the spark dying, the fire burning out.

She stumbled toward the screams feeling as if she was underwater, dimly terrified and horribly, horribly empty but it was distanced, far away, she could feel it but only just, this must be what it's like to die, to slowly shut down, first your body, then your heart, then finally your mind.

She rounded the corner and froze.

There was James, lying pale and still, eyes blank, mouth frozen in an obstinate expression.

But not her James.

This boy was James Pritchard, the fourth year she had tutored in Potions for the past two years. He was a brilliant, funny boy who specialized in pickpocketing and rolling coins over his knuckles, with curly red hair and brown eyes that shown with enthusiasm.

Or he had been.

Now he was nothing, lying there like a broken doll, an empty shell, but all Lily could feel was relief.

Because it wasn't her James.

Because her James was alive.

The source of the screams was a small boy of about twelve with black hair and green eyes, who clutched James's hand, tears spilling freely down his cheeks, begging him to get up, to stop messing around, to come back, that he loved him, Sam loved James, Sam loved his brother so much and he was so sorry-

Lily stared at the hastily scrawled message on the wall next to the crumpled body, eyes wide.

Four simple words, and yet they instilled a deep sense of fear on her heart.

There will be more.

Not even Hogwarts was safe anymore from the conflict that raged outside its walls.

The war had come to them.

...

"James?"

The boy glanced up from the book he was clearly not very interested in and rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Yeah?"

"Is now a good time?"

Looking relieved at a chance for a distraction, James nodded.

"Good." Lily took and continued. "So I think I may fancy you."

She smiled slightly at James's widening eyes and sharp inhale, but otherwise ignored it. "And I don't think that now is a good time at all, what with the war and students dying and all, you know, those slight problems. And I choose to simply ignore it."

James frowned. "What?"

Lily shrugged and said, "I choose to live without you-romantically at least. _Damn_ , that sounded cliché," she added in a mutter.

She looked at him again, and he was surprised-and very, very confused-when he saw a bit of anger and contempt there.

But nothing hit him harder than the careless remark she tossed over her shoulder as she walked toward her room.

"It was surprisingly easy."

 **A/N: AAAANGST MY FRIENDS. A dead pupil? A pissed Lily? A confused James? (Well, that one's actually not surprising at all.) But why do you think Lily is mad at him? Mad enough to essentially swear off dating him but at the same time taunting him by admitting her feelings? I mean that's just cruel. Let me know what you think!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21: Hogsmeade Hi-jinxes**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I feel like I've said that like twenty times. Oh wait... hehe... okay I know it wasn't funny. Shut up.**

The day started off fine.

It wasn't until about noon that everything went to shit.

...

It began with James waking Sirius at seven with a jet of cold water and Remus's muffled threat through his pillow to carve off James's bollocks if he tried to do the same to the scarred boy.

So in other words, a normal Saturday.

With Peter squinting at the grey dawn sky, Sirius complaining about being awake longer than the bloody sun ("Its a bit excessive to get up when the stars are still out, don't you think?) to anyone who would listen, Remus rolling his eyes at the other boy's antics, and James wearing a massive, mischievous grin, the boys plodded down to where Filch was standing there, looking irritable as always, next to McGonagall, who sported leaf-green robes that day.

When the woman saw them, she turned to Filch triumphantly.

"What was that about it being too early for any students to be up, again, Argus?"

Filch shuffled his feet and grumbled something that McGonagall ignored.

Filch checked them off the list and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I'll be checking to make sure you don't bring anything back from that bloody prank store."

Sirius winked at him. "Sure thing Argy! You can give me a full pat-down if you want."

Filch's face turned a mottled purple and he muttered distinctly, "I don't even know why I bother with these idiots."

James grinned. "Aw, you know we're just too lovable to stay mad at!" With that, he and Sirius, linked arm and arm, sauntered-there was no word better describing it-down the path to Hogsmeade.

Remus and Peter looked at each other. "Remind me why we're friends with them again?" Remus asked.

"They're rich," Peter replied. "So we get awesome Christmas presents."

Remus nodded. "Right. Of course. How could I forget?"

...

Heads up: we're at the it-all-went-to-shit-part.

The four boys were leaving Zonko's (of course) laden down with new items (obviously), James and Sirius's bags by far the biggest (honestly what else did you expect). They had almost made it across the street to Honeyduke's when it caught fire.

Well, technically that's not accurate.

But it got your attention, didn't it?

What really happened was worse, but less dramatic.

A jet of light shot through the air and hit the building dead-on. The front of the building crumbled into dust, and a loud creak could be heard as the roof teetered before crashing in on itself, crushing any unlucky patrons. Screams pierced the air.

The four boys drew their wands and ran toward the sounds of fighting farther down the street ('cause they're idiot Gryffindors, of course they did that).

Remus was just sending a Stunning Spell at a tall, beautiful woman with short orange-red hair and a scar on her jawline when he was sent spinning backwards. Just as he caught his breath he was picked up roughly and slammed down again.

Remus heard a roar, and looked up weakly to see Sirius charging straight at the Death Eater (the attackers were Death Eaters, of course, who else?). Foregoing his wand, Sirius opted to shoulder-check the unfortunate man straight into the nearest wall. It wasn't pretty. Remus tried to stand, but his vision flickered as he put weight on his left leg. He looked down and saw a shard of white bone jutting out from his skin. He stared unbelievingly. "Holy shit."

Black spots swam across this vision. Remus had time for one thought ("are you fucking kidding me?") before he drifted into unconsciousness.

"You bloody idiot! What the hell were you thinking, you're lucky it was only a Knockback Jinx-"

James looked at Madame Pomfrey pleadingly for help, but she ignored his plight as an angry Lily continued.

"And another thing! You decided to fight instead of doing your duty as a Head Boy and leading younger kids to safety, they could have died, do you really want blood on your-"

At that moment, Remus groaned and sat up. "The hell happened?"

James sighed with relief as Lily turned her attention away.

"Remus! You had a compound fracture, it was pretty bad, but Pomfrey fixed it, not even a scar-"

"What happened to James?" Remus said, looking at his friend, who sported a spectacular black eye and had dried blood on his face.

Lily sighed. "Your friend over here decided to dive in the way of a curse that would've hit a fourth year, only he didn't know what curse it was, he could've gotten himself killed, the stupid noble git."

Remus nodded. "So, I get injured, James does something noble, and you're pissed at him because you're secretly worried? We're officially in a story written by a preteen girl."

(The author would like to respectively add that fuck you, Remus, HE is not a preteen girl.)

James laughed and Lily raised an eyebrow. "Great. Now you're both idiots."

 **A/N: So yeah; drama, angst, Remus being hilarious, the works. You're welcome. Review if you can. Thanks for reading!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: Eyes Can't Hide Feelings**

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.** **Shocker, right?**

Lily was in Charms class when she first noticed the boy. Instantly she knew there was something different about him.

At first glance he was nothing special, a slightly pudgy boy of medium height with short, spiky brown hair that rather reminded her of a particularly bad-tempered hedgehog. The only interesting thing was his eyes.

They were a light hazel, but a very odd hazel. The colors were not as mixed and intertwined as James's, with specks of brown and green scattered throughout. No, this boy's eyes were strange. They were a light green, nearing olive green, with distinct patches of brown and a large brown and gold sunburst around his pupils.

The boy sat, lost in thought, spinning his wand deftly between his fingers.

But as she looked, his eyes spun like a wheel, blurring and flashing, twisting and writhing like snakes, until they settled again.

Lily frowned.

His eyes had turned to a brilliant green, much like her own.

"How did you do that?"

The boy froze and turned toward her. "Huh?"

His voice was clear and not very deep, and for some reason wondered what he would sound like if he laughed. He seemed like the kind of person who laughed a lot.

"Your eyes. They were hazel just a second ago. Now they're green."

The boy was a remarkably talented actor, but Lily saw a muscle in his jaw twitch, as if he was cursing his own stupidity. He blinked and his eyes were hazel again.

"Oh. Probably just a trick of the lights. You know how hazel eyes are, always changing from brown to green depending on light and clothes and stuff," he said, not missing a beat.

Lily nodded and decided not to pursue it. "That's an American accent. Somewhere northeast, right? My friend has a cousin in New York. You sound like her."

The boy once again gave very little away, but she could see him relax slightly. "Yeah, I'm from Boston. Right in the area." He sounded a little impressed, and Lily smirked to herself.

Let him think that he'd gotten away with it.

For now.

...

Lily was searching in the Library again.

She'd been searching furiously ever since she met the American boy, Jack DiMento. He was Italian, she'd learned, one quarter Italian. That where the name came from, obviously. He'd transferred from Ilvermorny in an exchange program, and was Sorted into Ravenclaw.

He used to be short. Really short. He loved to sing, and he was pretty damn good at it. He used to have blond hair. He wished he had freckles. He was extremely sarcastic, and though it sometimes came off as rude, he hardly ever intended it to.

Those were a few other things she'd learned.

The one thing she hadn't learned was that bloody eye trick. He'd been careful not to let her catch him, but she had figured out a few things nonetheless.

Firstly, he wasn't a Metamorphmagus. She had tested that instantly. Secondly, he really, really didn't like it when she refused to let it go. Thirdly, he was incredibly smart. Top of the class, in fact.

That had pissed her off the most.

He had become fast friends with Remus and Sirius, but for some reason James didn't seem to like him very much. Peter had only met him a couple of times, but was reasonably friendly. James, on the other hand, was practically hostile. Jack tried to be nice and understanding at first, but finally had snapped and said quite a few things that rather hit home (the most memorable being, "Damn, I'm glad I'm not so insecure that I quite literally hate the new kid because he is making friends.")

It was strange, Lily thought. It seemed like they would get along, based on their personalities.

Jack DiMento was witty. That much was obvious. He was never loud enough to be caught, but he'd sent the class into fits of laughter more than once. On his first day, Professor Binns had remarked, "You will all pass this class if it kills me." Jack, extremely confused, replied with, "Um-sir? I-I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but you're already dead. And you can't die twice. Trust me. I'd be dead a dozen times over out of boredom alone."

He hadn't meant it as a joke, but several of his classmates groaned as if it were a particularly poor one. When Binns made no remark, Jack shrugged and launched a quill through the ghost, soaring right through his nose, causing the few students who still remained awake to burst out laughing, which woke up the rest, who were quickly informed that the new kid "was either stupid as all hell or had iron bollocks or both."

Binns hadn't heard his comment, thankfully, (Jack didn't always realize how loud he was) but he did look up just as the quill whizzed back into Jack's hand. "What? Who... who are you and why are you in my class?"

By now Jack was quite concerned about the teacher's mental state, but shoved the thought down and simply replied, "I'm Jack DiMento. I'm an Ilvermorny exchange student. It's my first day, sir."

Binns nodded. "Hmph. Well, mister DiMetz-" "DiMento." "Whatever. Anyway, can you tell me when the First Goblin War began? You are allowed one question that I will answer to aide in your... _estimate_." He put heavy emphasis on the last word, clearly doubting Jack's chances.

"I can ask any relevant question?" Jack asked. By now most of the class was enraptured, waiting to see what the quite insane new student would ask.

"Yes," Binns sighed, "Any question."

Jack grinned triumphantly. "Okay then. When _did_ the First Goblin War begin, Professor?"

The class roared with merriment again. Binns gaped at him, shocked at being outsmarted. He merely blinked at the boy, silvery transparent face turning as red as it could, before he simply turned back to the board and began to lecture again, the air nowoccasionally punctured by a stifled laugh. The new kid had _guts_.

But it there was something off about him. Lily could see sometimes the fakeness (is that a word? Oh well) in his laugh, the way his smile would disappear when he thought no one was watching. No matter what eyes he might wear, she knew he couldn't hide that. Eyes can't always hide feelings.

Lily, meanwhile, was starting to realize that James was under the impression that she fancied the American boy. After what she'd told him, he had already been in a foul mood, but once he met her "new friend", who also was essentially working his way into the Marauders, James was rather understandably pissed.

Damn. Poor Jack, mucking things up without realizing it. Can't anything just be simple?

Of course not. That was a dumb question. Its Hogwarts, remember?

 **A/N: I'm introducing new characters and plot developments left and right, huh? Oh, in case I didn't mention it recently, it's early February right now at Hogwarts. I'll probably keep the timeline around what it is in real life from now on.**

 **So tell me: do you like Jack? Be honest. He's probably my favorite character to write about; he's just so sarcastic and at the same time so nice, it's fun to write his reactions.**

 **So yeah; love him, hate him, think I'm a terrible writer? Let me know if you can. Thanks for reading! See you next week!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**

 **P.S.: I just (literally five seconds ago) noticed that The Patil Twins left a review. Let me just say I freaked out. I don't know if they're still following or if they will see this, but check out their account! It's a personal favorite. If ou are still following, Padma, Parvati, thank you so much for reading! I'm so so glad you liked it!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23:**

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain't mine. That's all, folks.**

In the highlands of Scotland, a large, graceful, elegant castle lays nestled next to a sparkling lake. In a few days it would shake off the snowy blanket it had hidden under all winter and reveal its worn grey stone surface to the sun once more.

At the top of Hogwarts's Astronomy Tower-for the aforementioned castle was indeed Hogwarts, of course-a rather subdued boy with spiky brown hair sat tossing pebbles off the edge, eyes cycling through to a soft grey, matching the fog that had descended upon Hogwarts that morning like a layer of wool, seeming to hide things that did not want to be found.

Jack's eyes always turned to match the sky when he was lost in thought. Emily had always-

Jack cut the thought off there, the memories too painful to revisit. He sighed deeply and ruffled his hair with his hand, which didn't do much. Jack looked up at the pale expanse above him again for a moment before saying softly, "You don't have to hide, James."

A small scuffling noise could be heard, as if someone was deciding whether to move or not. Finally, James Potter appeared in a swirl of glittering silver. He sat down next to the shorter boy, not bothering to ask how Jack knew he was there.

"Fancy seeing you up here," James tried.

"If you're trying to get me to tell you why I'm up here, it's not going to work."

James nodded in acceptance, for once recognizing that he wasn't going to win that fight.

"The real question, James, is what are you doing here? You haven't exactly been my best friend since I got here. Why did you look for me? And why are you trying to act as if we aren't both acting like assholes to each other? I mean, I just don't-"

"I want to know what your story is."

Jack shrugged. "Maybe I just don't have a story, James."

"Everyone has a story. Maybe yours just hasn't been written yet."

Jack laughed. "That was awfully poetic. I'm impressed. But I really ought to go-"

"Who did you lose?" James asked simply.

Jack sat back down from where he'd risen partially and looked at the spectacled boy, knowing he couldn't lie but unable to just give in. "What?"

"I've seen you sometimes, when you fake a laugh or drop your smile when they look away. I know that look. So who did you lose?"

Jack's eyes searched the other boy's face, frowning in thought, bottom lip caught between his teeth, eyebrows furrowed. "There's more to you than I thought."

James laughed. "Isn't there always?"

Jack smiled, his eyes turning back to their natural hazel automatically. James opened his mouth to exclaim something, but thought better of it and simply said, "You can't always hide behind your eyes, Jack. Even if they can change."

Instead of flinching or looking at him with wide eyes as he expected, Jack merely looked at him. "I assumed you'd noticed by now. Your friend Lily-though I wonder if she is more-noticed the first time she met me. She keeps asking me about it. She's getting kind of frustrated," he added, grinning slightly.

James, who had flinched slightly at Jack's insinuation, nodded, also grinning as he thought of his-friend? Acquaintance? Random-girl-who-kissed-him-once-in-a-while? Whatever.

"Yeah. It's... complicated."

Jack seemed to understand what he meant. He was an understanding bloke.

"You never answered me."

"I know."

James looked at him, genuine concern and curiosity now seeping into his expression. "That bad?"

Jack glanced in his direction. "I sure you've dealt with worse."

James nodded. "So yes, then. Why do you do that? Every time someone tries to talk about how something affects you, you point out that someone else has it worse. I don't get it. It's rather infuriating, to be completely honest."

Jack leaned back slightly, grabbing his wand, which had been lying a bit behind him from where he'd dropped it as he sat down. "Fine. But this is gonna take a while, and it's going to get cold, so I'm casting a Warming Charm."

He took a deep breath, slowly let it out, and turned to sit facing James. Looking steadily at the stone floor, he began.

"I met Emily Grace Cresta on a summer day when I was twelve..."

 **A/N: Not an especially long or interesting chapter, but the next one will-hopefully-be both. We finally get to learn Jack's backstory-I say we because even I don't know yet, I'll make it up as we go. Let's hope it's good, shall we? See you-all three of you, probably-next week!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24:**

 **Disclaimer: 24 chapters in and Harry Potter still isn't mine. Shocker.**

"Emily was probably the kindest person I have ever met. Everyone knew her. Everyone liked her. She was just one of those people, one of those special people that knows exactly how to comfort you, to cheer you up, to calm you down. Hell, she literally saved my life. Twice."

James watched Jack with an unreadable look, but inside was full to the brim with emotions: guilt, for not asking this before; empathy, understanding-James truly did understand. Finally the pieces came together, and James saw Jack DiMento, really saw him, perhaps for the first time.

"Emily had black hair, a lot like yours actually. It was thick and curly, and she never could get it tamed." Here he grinned. "She always grumbled about cutting it all off, but never did. Emily was tall, about Lily's height. She had green eyes; bright green eyes, another thing Lily shares. She had freckles on her cheeks and nose. She had a scar on her upper lip from running into a low branch when she was little. She..." He broke off, sobering. "She wanted so _badly_ to be able to do the things I showed her; making paper airplanes actually fly, pebbles bounce forever on water, and a ball never come back down. She tried and tried and hoped and wished, but fate is fickle, and no letter did she receive."

James nodded slightly and looked up at the sky, where pockets of blue began to appear, shot through with hazy streaks of golden sunlight that turned the slightly intimidating, almost depressing sight into a glittering, ethereal view.

"She always told me it was fine, that it didn't matter. Until I came back the summer after fifth year, at least." His eyes turned dark and angry, and James almost flinched when tiny lightning flickered in the stormy orbs.

"Her parents-you have to realize James, they didn't understand. They thought it was a joke, some kind of prank from the neighborhood kids or something. They didn't know it was real. It's not like it is here, for Muggleborn students. No one arrives to explain everything unless they receive the signal that you opened the letter. Then they come."

James began to realize what was coming next, and his stomach wrenched horribly.

"They threw the letter away, she said. They never thought to mention it. Why would they? That is, until I showed them my letter. Then it hit them. They understood exactly what they'd done. And so did Emily."

Jack shook his head, tears springing in his eyes. "She was so mad. She came to the park, where we always met, and I asked her why she was so pissed. She went off on me, screaming about how I just happened to have a wizard for a father, and that it should have been her, she should've been able to go, to learn.

"I was following her down the street, trying to calm her down, and it was raining. She was looking at me, not paying attention. She-" He sighed, looking down at his hands. "She didn't see the car."

James's eyes widened. "Oh."

Jack looked at him, a grim, mirthless smile on his face. "Yeah. Isn't it stupid? A fucking car accident. Fucking drunk asshole hit her from behind. She didn't seem scared, even though she knew she wasn't going to make it." He began to cry in earnest. "She just smiled and-" His voice dropped so that James strained to hear it. "And she kissed me. And then she died."

He looked up and grabbed the small pile of pebbles he'd been amusing himself with and tossed them up into the air, where they hovered in front of him. He glared at them, wind ripping through his hair, and fhe stones shot through the air, defying gravity, until they connected with the side of Ravenclaw tower, where they imbedded themselves in the shape of a large X.

"She died in my arms, as cliche as it is. She was fifteen, James. Fucking fifteen. Why the hell did she have to die? Why did she-" he broke off, but James knew what he was going to say. _Why did she have to leave me?_

James shifted to throw an arm around Jack's shoulders as the other boy shook, sobs wracking his frame, legs giving out.

In that moment, looking into eyes that burned with the same slow flame of grief and sorrow no matter what color they turned, James got a glimpse into the depths of Jack's mind; no matter what he was doing, in the back of his head an insidious voice always whispered that he could have done more, he could have helped her, he could have saved her.

"Not everything is your fault, Jack. Emily's death is as much your fault as any of the people killed in the war."

Jack gave a hollow laugh. "If I hadn't been so damn cowardly, at least thirty of those people would still be alive, so I'd say it's sort of my fault."

At James's confused frown, Jack held up a small charm that must have been hidden in his robes, and James flinched.

Sunlight glistened on the curves of the Dark Mark, a flawless, elegantly carved piece of silver skillfully made by hand.

"This once belonged to a man-a boy, really-by the name of Alexander Dussault. Though you might know him better as Vladimir Deston."

James squinted at him. "The Reaper?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "What a stupid name. Sounds like some supervillain in a comic written by a seven-year-old. Alex probably found it amusing. But yes, that's him."

James frowned. "First of all, he's dead."

Jack nodded. "I know."

"Second of all, no one knows who he really was, only that Vladimir Deston was a pseudonym. It was some big secret, not even Voldemort's followers knew. How the hell do you? Was he your father or something?" He asked the last part as a joke, but at the same time cringing from the clichéd irony.

Jack made a face. "Merlin, no. Alex was my best friend."

 **A/N: Someone break out the violins, there's more tragic backstory next chapter. Hope you liked it; that's why I write, after all. See you next week!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

 **Disclaimer: I only own this plot and character adaptations. Sorry.**

"If this was a story, I would tell you about a bright, brilliant, happy boy that turned evil when something terrible happened; say the one he loved died, perhaps killed by Muggles, so he began to hate them. But this is not a story. So instead I will tell the story of a withdrawn, introverted, alarmingly quiet boy that was cunning but had little drive, and so did nothing with it."

James gave him a doubtful look. "Mhm. So this little shy kid turned into a vicious killing machine that murdered about thirty people. Right."

Jack smiled softly. "How do you know he was a vicious killing machine?"

The spectacled boy's look turned to one of incredulity. "Did I mention the thirty-odd murders? Besides, the Prophet-" He winced. "Okay, bad example. But books and newspapers and things seem to reflect it."

"History is written by the winning side," Jack quipped, eyes twinkling.

James arched a brow. "You know Churchill?"

Jack imitated him. "You recognized it?"

Smirking, James replied, "You said it wrong. It's 'History is written by the victors.'"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Mine sounds better, so I honestly don't really care all that much."

Laughing, James gestured for him to continue. "Anyway..."

"Right." Brows drawn together, eyes hardened into opaque, impenetrable orbs, chest tightened, and a small, frozen smile fixed to his face, Jack began the story of Alexander Dussault.

"I suppose that first I should tell you what he looked like. He was my height, perhaps a little shorter. He..." Jack smiled softly, remembering the bright-eyed boy quick to retort when someone teased or insulted him. "He had short-cropped jet-black hair, bright, piercing blue eyes, and freckles. He had a traditional Italian complexion, a bit darker than mine of course. He had this smile that he only gave when he was about to do something stupid..." Jack trailed off with a reminiscing grin. "He could charm your socks off if he tried. Which he did.

"So why the hell did he go on a bloody killing spree, I'm sure you're wondering? Well, the truth is I don't know." Jack shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea. Maybe it was Emily. Maybe it was greed, or hate or jealousy or fear or a good-intentioned mistake, hell if I know."

James had been fixated on one comment Jack had made for the entire rest of the conversation, and finally spoke up. "So what do you mean, 'If I hadn't been so cowardly'?"

Jack's expression soured. "Oh. Right." He ran a hand through his hair and rested his forehead on cool stone. "Well, three summers ago, Alex came around my place. Oh, and I forgot to mention he's-or rather, _was_ -a few years older than me. It's not like he was killing in between classes. But yeah, one day I heard the doorbell and there he was, in all his Death Eater glory. What really scared me was that he himself seemed frightened." Jack shook his head. "He was never frightened without good reason. I asked him what was wrong, and I'll never forget his answer." Jack's stare was aimed at the sky, but his eyes were somewhere else, a small blue house in Massachusetts, where a young, scared boy in heavy black robes stood at the door. "He said that Voldemort would use him as an attack dog. As some kind of enslaved beast that attacked, tortured, or killed whoever Voldemort ordered him to, that he would be used like a stepping stone to achieve Voldemort's ultimate goal, though what that was he didn't know. He asked me to come with him, to run and never be found. We could do it, we knew we could. We'd planned things like it before." He swallowed heavily. "I said no. Said he'd gone mad, if he thought I would help any Death Eater, and to tell Voldemort I said so, damned if I was going to die because of it. He got angry. Really, really angry, more angry than I'd ever seen him. He said that he would imagine every life he severed to be mine," Here Jack winced. "And then he left."

He glanced up, heaved a breath, and smiled joylessly. "There. Now you're caught up."

 **OKAY SO I KNOW I DIDN'T UPDATE AT ALL LAST WEEK BUT IM GONNA UPDATE TWICE NEXT WEEK SO IT WILL ALL EVEN OUT PLEASE DONT KILL ME- phew. That was a mouthful. Anyway, you get the point. Next week will be good. Probably.**

 **Peanutbutter Jam (Guest): So just a quick little reply because I didn't want to wait until next week; I'm doing Emily's, Alex's and possibly a bit of Jack's because they are/will be important elements to the story. I just think you'll be able to better understand motives and why things are the way they are like this, and plus I just think you'd like to know more about the characters. But yeah, these two backstories exist mostly because they will be VERY important later. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering it's still February at Hogwarts.**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26:**

 **Disclaimer: It still isn't mine, guys. Harry Potter, that is. This story is all I get.**

"What did you do?"

James glanced at Remus, sipping butterbeer from the glass in his hand, smiling as he listened to the very amusing rendition of "The Boys Are Back In Town" by Sirius, Lily, Jack and Peter, which sounded surprisingly good.

"What on earth do you mean?" James teased.

"Oh, come off it. Jack."

Now James was actually confused. "I... didn't do anything to Jack. I only spiked-" here he bit his lip, restraining a laugh "-I mean, what do you think I did?"

Remus gave Jack, who was red-faced with laughter and had moved on to a rather heartfelt duet with Sirius, an arm around the grey-eyed boy's shoulders as they belted out ABBA's "Dancing Queen" to a dramatically cheering Peter and Lily, a dubious look.

"You go from completely avoiding-and, dare I say it, disliking-him to being his best friend. What'd you do? Confund him? Imperius, maybe?"

James laughed. "What the hell are you talking about? I just talked to him."

Remus stared at him, eyes narrowed and searching. "What exactly about?"

James shifted slightly. "Just... things."

Remus nodded as if his point had been proven. "And does 'things' include this?" He asked, pulling out the Dark Mark charm.

"Where did you get that?" James hissed, grabbing at the pocket it had been tucked in when he left the tower.

Remus glared at him. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice? I've taken things from your pockets before. So I ask again: what, exactly, is this?"

Snatching back the charm, James whispered, "Shut up, Merlin, do you want him to hear? I don't think he wanted you guys to know yet. I'll tell you later; let's just enjoy this, shall we?"

With that, he stepped away from the wall and joined in with the others, who were now screaming the Beatles at the top of their lungs.

As he walked off, Remus could see Jack give him a questioning look, to which James replied with a noncommital shrug and sing louder. Jack looked as if he wanted to pursue it, then laughed, shook his head, also shrugged slightly, and began singing again.

Remus shook his head slightly. There was more to this kid, even more than James knew. He could tell; wandering eyes, twitching hands, tense jaw; yes, Jack was hiding something-but what the hell was he doing with Voldemort's Mark?

...

As Lily was about to fall asleep that night, an image of James and Jack laughing together popped into her head and she frowned. For some indescribable reason, she didn't like the idea of them being friends, despite her anger at James's rudeness towards the other boy earlier that year. Something about it rubbed her the wrong way; she just couldn't put her finger on it.

Suddenly she realized; Jack had never said how he knew James's name. Or hers, for that matter. Or any of theirs. He just did. He'd met them, addressed them, and that was it; no introduction was needed. He seemed like he already knew everything about them.

Did he?

She wouldn't fall asleep for a long time.

...

Far away, a muscled man in dark robes was giving a report to a pale, skeletal figure that sat on a black stone throne-there was no word more accurate describing the hunk of onyx-colored rock, roughly hewn from the cave in which they dwelled-whose face was half in shadow, black hair tousled, yet sleek and clean. But the burning scarlet eyes left no doubt as to who exactly it was.

"The American boy suspects," the Death Eater said. "He is a threat to us, greater than he knows."

"Let him suspect," sneered the cold voice. "He won't be a problem much longer."

 **A/N: So I still didn't get the second chapter I promised to you up yet, and this one is pretty short, but next week FOR SURE this time: when have I ever let you down? Hehe.. hehe... yeah. Hope you liked it. Review if you can. Oh, and special thanks to Crasseskittenfurd for the idea of Lily not liking James and Jack being friends. See you next week!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27:**

 **Disclaimer: HP will never be mine. I've accepted it.**

"So, you see, full-body Transfiguration also falls under Trex's Law, in that each transformation must be considered separate, and yet all part of a single whole..."

Jack's voice was lulling; he was actually quite a good tutor, but the blond Ravenclaw from the year below wasn't very interested in the lesson as her gaze rover from his mesmerizing eyes, a bit greener today, to his full lips, which in her opinion looked far too soft and perfect than any boy's should have the right to, and finally resting at his broad shoulders and well-defined jawline; being friends with exercise nut James Potter had perks.

Suddenly the girl began to lean toward him. Jack, not paying attention, was just about to conclude his point when a soft pair of lips touched his and he looked up to see blue eyes staring at him from much too close. His response, as a result, was rather entertaining.

"...and that's all there is to it. You should do-OI. WHAT THE _FUCK_?"

Heads whipped their direction and laughter sounded as they saw Jack leaning back in his chair, the girl sitting far too near, Jack's eyes wide and mouth slightly open in surprise. Madam Prince glared at them, but Jack was an avid reader and one of the few students she actually liked, so she stayed quiet.

...

" _She asked for a lesson in the stacks and you thought she meant tutoring?_ "

Jack went red. "I-well-I mean-I don't even know her! And it's not like I'm Sirius or something-"

Lily snorted.

Jack stopped short. "Hey, now that's just rude. I'm not that ugly, you git. Wait. Can I call a girl a git?" He turned to Remus. "Or is it not a gender-neutral thing?"

Remus raised his eyebrows. "I think you're missing the point. Why the hell did you think she meant tutoring? And by the way, your expression when she kissed you was priceless!"

Lily went rigid. "She-she kissed you?"

Jack gave her an odd look. "Yeah... don't go all mother-bear on me now Evans, I don't want you to go to Azkaban."

Lily stood up and grabbed Jack's face. Pulling his jaw slightly apart, she rubbed her finger on his lips hard and inspected it for a moment, muttering, "And you didn't think to mention this earlier, you idiotic little prat?"

James was watching Jack with a pitying expression. "Evans? What on earth are you doing now?"

Lily held up the finger she'd rubbed on Jack's lips, which was shifting from bright red to deep purple. "It's love potion, you fucking moron!"

Jack's eyes got very big and very round. "Oh, fuck."

Sirius, who'd been mostly quiet up until this point, laughed. "Popular with the ladies, aren't you?"

Jack gave him a dubious look. "Yes. Because one girl _definitely_ makes me popular."

"That's a joke, right?" Peter said incredulously. "You should hear them. He clasped his hands together and gave a rather impressive rendition: 'Oh my Merlin, his accent is so _dreamy_ , and his eyes are so _deep_ , and he can _sing_ , and he's so _smart_ , and-" he faked a swoon. "'What about that killer _jawline_?'"

Remus chuckled. "He has a point, you know. You're not bad-looking."

Sirius's nose twitched, and Lily and James shared a smirk before looking away, eyes still casting glances the other didn't see.

Jack, meanwhile, was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, completely and utterly oblivious to the attention he received from the female population.

"But why the hell would she put love-"

His eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped forward. Lily sighed. "Fantastic. It's already in his system. One second."

With a muttered "Rennervate," Jack was back awake, but his eyes were cloudy and his face much too relaxed, almost completely slack. "Where's Olivia?"

Remus was covering a grin. "Er... in her dormitory I suppose. It's after curfew."

"Then to the dormitory I shall go!" Jack said. He began to stand up, but collapsed, laughing deliriously.

"Hold him down," Lily ordered, grabbing various potions ingredients and muttering as she went. "Ground spearmint, to clear the head... lavender and chamomile, to settle emotions... and crushed earthworm, cleansing the body of all remains of the potion."

She coated the odd pill-like object with caramel and sugar ("The earthworm will take up almost all of his energy, this will keep him going until he eats," she explained.) and forced it down Jack's throat.

"Hey, waddya do tha' for, eh? I need to shee Olivia now, could you pleash show me dah way-"

He once again fell forward, this time breathing deeply and evenly.

"He'll need to sleep it off for about an hour, but after that he'll be fine. Thank Merlin it wasn't Amortentia or something; he'd feel like shit for days."

Remus snorted. "I still can't believe he thought she meant _tutoring_."

...

"Urgh. Never gonna tutor anyone again; how the _fuck_ did she even _get_ love potion?"

Lily laughed. "Made it, probably. She's top of her class. _Tutoring_? I mean, really, Jack, how bloody stupid are you?"

Shrugging, he retorted, "Apparently not as stupid as you; did you know it's not even close anymore?"

He ducked the first book that was aimed at his forehead, but couldn't quite grab the pillow, and feathers went everywhere.

"Ow!"

"Serves you right you little shit."

 **A/N: The day is here! I finally cranked out those two chapters I owed you guys! You're welcome. Hope you're not too mad at me about next chapter; let's just say no one will be happy, you or me.**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me.**

March 28, the day before Easter Sunday, was a Hogsmeade weekend. Unsurprisingly, that night, James was understandably in denial and very, _very_ pissy.

"What a fucking cliche, attacking Hogsmeade _again_ , and the day before Easter too, it's not even like they're smart, they're utter fucking morons, I mean-"

Wait. I should back up.

You don't know yet, do you?

I hope I didn't spoil anything. Let's just start with that morning.

...

"Get up, ya little shits!"

Groaning, Sirius questioned why exactly they had given Jack the password, and who exactly thought that was a good idea. (spoiler alert: it was him)

"Who wants to tell Jack he's gone bloody nutters?" James, who was regretting his decision to spend the night in his old dormitory, muttered to the other three as they dragged their legs down the hallway, Jack walking briskly ahead, completely oblivious and whistling contentedly.

Remus whacked James in the back of his head. "Shut up, it's not like it's any different from you dragging us outside every ruddy day at six a.m. in the summer."

James grinned. Glancing at Sirius, he said in his best innocent voice, "Ah, but look at the good it's done you Moony!" He grabbed Remus's shirt and pulled it up to reveal a defined six-pack and strong arms that Sirius stared at unabashedly before Peter elbowed him.

Pulling his shirt down and glaring at James, Remus opened his mouth to retort when suddenly-

"Holy fuck. I thought Potter was supposed to be the buff one?"

"Try again, Natalie. It's DiMento. Have you seen his fucking abs? Merlin."

The boys whirled around to see a group of third year girls huddled in the corner, one with her hand clamped on her friend's mouth.

Sirius smirked at them and ran a hand through his hair, exaggerating his biceps and startling eyes.

A few swooned, and an audible whisper of, "Black's _definitely_ the sexy one" could be heard.

" _Anyway..._ " Peter cut in. "Can we just go?"

As they turned, one last murmur was caught by their sensitive ears. "Damn, even Pettigrew got hot, look at those biceps!"

Peter went red, but still they kept walking.

"Alright, you know the drill; first Zonko's, then the Three Broomsticks, and then meet up in Honeyduke's with Evans. Good? Good. Go."

The owl post office was the first to be attacked this time. Screeching was a constant, deafening noise, and the street was littered with a few still bodies that didn't fly away fast enough.

The boys were in Honeyduke's this time, and as they came out, wands drawn, (they never learn) Sirius was knocked off his feet. ( it's always Sirius, it's like he's a curse magnet!)

He tried to sit up but a boot was pressed in his shoulder. He cracked his eyes open and squinted at the cruel-looking man in black robes that stood above him. "Dolohov."

"Hello Black."

He was about to speak again, the last words Sirius Black would ever hear, when the cry came.

"HEY _FUCKER_!"

The masked Death Eater snapped his head up from Sirius's groaning form to see a powerfully built boy with spiky brown hair charging at him, wandless, looking incredibly pissed off.

Sirius finally located his wand, focusing on it where it lay three feet away. He scrambled toward it and, grabbing it, turned, crying, " _Stupe_ -"

 _"Avada Kedavra!"_

" _NO_!"

The cry was ripped from Sirius's lips as just as the Death Eater crumpled from the hastily aimed Stunning Spell, nose bleeding and cheek swelling from the punches Jack had managed to land, Jack also folded at the knees, his eyes sparking an unnatural bright green as the spell that had flown from the Death Eater's wand shot through his veins like electricity. He wouldn't get up.

Sirius sprinted over to him, feeling his forehead (why was it so cold?) and grabbing his wrist ("Very funny, but even you can't fake a pulse, Jack.")

Of course, he didn't find one. There was no pulse to find.

Jack DiMento died on March 28, 1978, with a smile on his face, knowing that he had saved his friend.

But most notable were his eyes; even after he was taken away, people swore that they could still see the reflection of that night's sky, twinkling stars and all, glinting in the depths of the glassy hazel orbs.

But that would be crazy.

Because it's impossible.

Isn't it?

 **A/N: Okay, so maybe I killed Jack, and maybe I'm a terrible person, and maybe... we'll, let's leave it at that. Please don't kill me, and let me know if it's too cliché!**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

 **Disclaimer: HP isn't mine, but give credit where credit is due: I was smart enough to read it.**

"We only knew the magnificent boy by the name of Jack DiMento for a few short months, a minuscule stretch of time. We should have had years and years of memories with the bright, energetic, happy, and so unbelievably brilliant soul that Jack was. He was a reminder that even in the darkness of war, there are lights. His sacrifice is one of them. Jack loved you. All of you. He truly loved his friends. He died saving one of his closest companions, whom he considered a brother. But that is only a very small part of the message Jack taught us.

"No one is invincible, or infallible or omniscient or perfect in any way. But when we protect each other with our lives and fight until our last breath for the ones we love, we are a powerful force indeed.

"Jack DiMento will never be forgotten. His name will be sung in the epics that depict the downfall of Voldemort." The torches seemed to burn lower at the name. "And it shall be whispered throughout the halls of this great school for years to come. They will speak of a kind, compassionate, unimaginably clever soul who departed far too soon. And he will live again."

Dumbledore seemed to relax slightly, though his worn, tired face did not change. "He always said he'd be remembered. We will make sure he is never forgotten."

He raised his wand slowly. "Jack DiMento."

The students repeated the motion and whispered the name, the sound hissing and echoing off of the great stone walls of the Great Hall, faces solemn, all of them, yes every single one of them, feeling at least a single moment of grief.

"Jack DiMento."

...

It was a week before James smiled again.

A week more before Sirius laughed.

A month later Peter finally made a joke.

But it wasn't the same. Not without him.

Remus, for some reason, took it the best, all things considered. But he would never take a small onyx depiction of a raven from his keychain; it was all he had left of Jack, and damn it if he didn't deserve to be remembered.

Time passed quickly. The only thing of note happened on the third day after Jack died.

Lily was coming back from dinner when a hand wrapped around her mouth and a cold wandtip was pressed into her temple.

"You will move very slowly. And very nicely. You will not make a sound. Or I will kill you."

A flash of fear ripped through her before she steeled herself, eyes hardening, hand inching toward her wand. She was Lily Evans, Head Girl, top of the class (well, close enough), not some bloody damsel in distress.

Just as she parted her lips to send her attacker into the nearest wall, she heard the thud of a strong punch and a grunt of pain.

The hand slipped off her mouth and the wand clattered to the floor. With a slightly relieved look, she turned to thank her savior-she snorted internally at the term, even if it was used in the privacy of her mind-only to be met with the liquid brown eyes of Remus Lupin.

"Hello Lily. Are you alright?"

Lily sighed in relief and thanked Merlin it wasn't James. Of this was a book or movie, it would be James. He would smile a cocky smile and say-

"Guess we saved you there, huh? However will you repay me?"

Lily groaned. Of course. Why didn't she expect James to be with him? She craned her neck to look past Remus, a snappy comeback on her lips- only to be met once again by a face that did not belong to James Potter.

She was staring into the grey eyes of Sirius Black.

She laughed then, a laugh that let out the fear that had filled her when the hand went over her mouth.

It wasn't the boy she wasn't sure if she yearned for or dreaded seeing that had saved her.

It was her friends.

Just her friends.

...

Finally, a little over a month later, on the last day of April, it happened.

What, you may ask?

No, I promise this isn't some kind of make-everything-perfect-in-the-end kind of story. Jack won't miraculously resurrect.

No. What I'm referring to is a bit less dramatic, but just as unrealistic. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic. No, I don't care that it was a stupid joke.)

"You know, I don't think I've ever been in your room before."

Lily glanced up from where she was digging through a bag. "Really?"

James was laying on her bed, tossing his wand up and down and trying to catch it between two fingers. "Yeah. Never really thought about it before. Weird; I mean we've lived in the same dorm for what, seven months?"

Books thudded to the ground as Lily flinched subconsciously. James instantly leapt up, grabbing her forearm to steady her. "Hey. You okay Lils?"

"Er... yeah. Just thinking about how a good amount of the year was spent with only one of us in here, between... your dad and... you know."

In a vain attempt to distract her, James grabbed a photo of a grinning Lily taken when she was about eight years old, sporting a braid she'd clearly done herself and a grin from ear to ear, covered in mud, clutching a small terrier-like dog.

"You were so cute."

Lily gave him a mock hurt look. "As opposed to now?"

James gave a "duh" look and said, "Well, yeah, obviously."

Lily was now no longer completely faking. "Oi. What's that supposed to mean?"

James squinted at her. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Now you're beautiful."

 **A/N: Starts off solemn and ends cheesy. Perfect.**

 **Hope all four of my readers that are still actually reading enjoy! See you next week.**

 **~~~J, a friend. "Sanctissimi cordis, quam acerrimi animi!"**


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

"You smooth motherfucker."

James laughed. "That I am, Evans. That I am."

Lily eyed him quite strangely and James was beginning to worry that she was going to punch him, but then she did something even more surprising: she kissed him. (A/N: Percy Jackson parallels anyone?)

Once again James found himself being kissed by the girl of his dreams, and still he sat frozen.

He pulled after a few seconds. "Wait-"

"Oh for _fuck's_ sake!" Lily snapped. "Merlin, first I feel like I'm kissing a brick wall and then you pull away for the _third bloody time_ this _year_! What is the problem, James? Not like I'm saying no, is it? And we both know you fancy me. So what the hell is your problem?"

James, for what felt like the hundredth time that year, gaped like a fish. "I-I just-that is-um-"

"You know what? Forget it. It doesn't matter."

James reached out a hand meekly. "Wait. I-"

"Get out."

James nearly flinched at the cold fury in her voice. "But-look, Lily-"

"Get _out!_ "

And James did.

...

Something was off. Remus couldn't say if it was James having a phantom argument with Lily in the mirror (a reasonably normal occurrence) or James's tousled hair and smeared lipstick mark on his cheek. Or maybe it was Sirius braiding his own hair-no wait, that was normal too. Oh yes. It was the fact that Sirius was deadly quiet and James was deadly pissed. No wait-James was always pissed about Lily. But the quiet was new. Two out of five ain't bad.

"...and just because you think I'm your personal fucking... fucking... lip parking space, doesn't mean I have to respond, I mean Merlin, three times should be enough for you to take a hint, it's not you it's me and all that fucked up shit. Just let it go!"

Peter, who had done the intelligent thing and stayed quiet so far, spoke up. "Okay, but did you like it when she kissed you?"

James's mouth seemed to stop working, words forming on his lips and nothing coming out. "I-well-I mean-that's not the point-"

"But it is the point, don't you get it? Hell, it's nearly May, James. We're going to graduate soon. Everyone in the bloody castle knows you'll get together except, apparently, you. So stop bloody fighting it and kiss the poor bird! Damn, I pity her, having to put up with your shit!"

The other three boys stared aghast at Peter, who was standing there, chests heaving, fists clenched, blond hair plastered to his forehead.

James slowly began to nod. "Yeah... yeah, yeah. You know what?" He threw open the door dramatically. "Fuck it. I'll do it."

...

Lily stayed in her room for more than an hour after James came back before finally slipping out. James cornered her in the kitchen when she was making tea.

"Oh bloody hell Potter, would you stop being such an immature prat and let me b-"

And then he was kissing her, really kissing her, and the teacup shattered on the floor but she didn't notice because all she could think of was James, hear his rapid breathing, feel his pulse under her right hand, blood shooting through his jugular, see his eyes, open and shockingly bright, but most of all she thought about the way his slightly chapped lips pressed into hers. This was far different from the small kisses she'd initiated before. This was rough and messy and so much better. His hands were buried in her hair as she used the fridge behind her for support, for without it her knees would surely have buckled.

She hissed in pain slightly as the handle dig into the small of her back and James immediately pulled away. "Did I hurt you? Shit, I'm so sorry-"

"James?" She cut in. He looked at her, guilt on his face.

"Shut up."

She pulled his face back down to hers and they were lost again.

 **A/N: Fluffy, fluffy writing and finally some classic Jily. Took long enough. (Hey, I just write what they tell me, I can't make anything happen! I'm as helpless as you guys!)**


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

 **Disclaimer: We all know HP ain't mine, guys.**

"Hello?"

The slightly timid voice cut through the quiet semidarkness as a small globe of wandlight pierced the shadows, casting a gloomy glow on the face of Peter Pettigrew.

He crept through the Head Dorm, banging his shins on the coffee table with a muttered curse. He froze as the wandlight illuminated a hand.

Scratch that; two hands, intertwined. He followed them up, part of him just praying there would be clothes.

Thank Merlin there were. Peter gave a quiet sigh, his lips tugging up in the corners. Lily Evans was sprawled on the chest of James Potter, her head resting on his heart as he seemed to subconsciously attempt to move even closer.

"Well then. I guess you made up after all."

"Where there is a will, there is a way. Even in the midst of war. Love prevails. It is truly beautiful, is it not, Peter?"

Peter whirled around as the hoarse voice [just imagine Richard Harris's voice, you get the picture] of Albus Dumbledore sounded from behind him.

The old wizard held a finger to his lips, blue eyes twinkling. Peter should have been startled, should have been creeped out even, but all he could feel was a soft amusement and respect, and mostly an overwhelming sense of safety. Yes, there was a war, a terrible war, but there was also Dumbledore. And who better was there to protect them, the future of the Wizarding World?

"Come, Peter. They deserve their rest. Merlin knows they deserve it." Dumbledore held out a hand toward the door. Peter followed him into the corridor.

Dumbledore was just turning away after a soft goodbye and a glittering smile when Peter spoke up.

"Professor?"

He turned, silver hair forming a cloud in the moonlight. "Yes, Mr. Pettigrew?"

"How do you know? You seem as if you always can tell who is good and who is not, who is in love with who and when they will act on it. How?"

Peter saw a spark of something that he had never seen in the depths of Dumbledore's eyes; deep, unadulterated pain.

"I watch, and listen. Because I thought someone was one thing, and I was so very wrong. I will not be wrong again."

What Peter couldn't know, couldn't see, was the image of a grinning golden-haired boy that flashed across Dumbledore's eyes.

Because you can't always be wise, and you can't always know everything.

And those things, the mistakes, the fights, the hate, the division... those are always the things people want to hide,

And all of us have something to hide.

And all of us have things we'd rather bury.

But wouldn't you rather release it, accept it? Truly move on?

Wouldn't you rather remove that lead weight that sits in the bottom of your heart?

Wouldn't you rather make room for love?

...

"Hey lovebirds? How was the honeymoon?"

"Honestly Sirius, do you _ever_ just _shut the fuck up_?"

Sirius recoiled slightly at the harsh words. "Merlin, James, were you that bad or is she experiencing morning-after pains?"

Ten minutes later Remus was still trying to fix his nose and Peter was attacking the fist-shaped bruise on his arm.

Yes, it was clear that Lily and James were not amused.

It took them a whole day, the Marauders that is, to pry it out of the messy-haired boy.

Rubbing his neck sheepishly, James muttered the story as quickly and quietly as possible. Sirius snorted.

"Wait, wait, hold on. She accidentally walked in on you in the shower and now she's pissed because you freaked out? What, did she expect you to invite her in?"

James winced. "Well... I kind of mayb sort of told her that she had to pay more attention and that she... should look up from her books once in a while?" His voice trailed off into a timid squeak, and at the end the other three gaped in horror.

"Are you _completely suicidal_?"

 **A/N: So here it is, in all its cheesy, angsty glory. See you next week**.


	32. Chapter 32

Hey guys! So I'm really sorry that this isn't a chapter, but I am writing this to tell you that the past week has been the first of the three-week hiatus on this story. I'm sorry, but I am honestly struggling with which way to go on the plotline (I'm not telling). But let's just keep it at this: if I choose to go the way I'm leaning toward right now, this story will conclude very soon.

On that slightly depressing note (for me), see you guys on May 14th!

NOTE; 5/2/18: Twenty years ago, so many lives were wrongfully taken in the Battle of Hogwarts. Raise your wands for Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Colin Creevey, Fred Weasley, and all of those unnamed who gave up their lives for a better world. Hold them in your hearts, and above all, do not let their deaths be in vain. They will be remembered. We will keep their names alive. Until the very end.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 32**

 **Disclaimer: Nothing's changed. HP _still_ isn't mine. Shocker, right?**

 _Bang. Bang. Bang._ "Hello?" _Bang. Bang._

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Merlin Moony, keep your bloody trousers on."

Remus's eyebrows shot up at the sight of James Potter, his white t-shirt slipping off one shoulder, what looked very much like hickeys dotting his neck.

Trying and failing to restrain a snort, Remus gestured to the spots. "Did you, uh... have fun then?"

James slapped his hand to his neck, and that's when Remus noticed that he displayed no signs of a rude awakening-and some of those hickeys looked fresh.

"Were you two snogging again?"

James immediately slammed the door in his face.

Remus waited for him to walk away, then opened the door again. "Use protection!"

 _Bang_. This time it was James's wand that sent the hinges rattling.

Remus laughed to himself, shaking his head as he meandered down the corridor, taking a bit more time than necessary, painfully aware that his time at Hogwarts was drawing to a close. "Ah, young love."

...

It was time.

As James moved slowly down the stone corridor for the last time as a student, he felt a lump in the pit of his stomach, stretching into his throat, that he knew was nostalgia. He looked at every door and corner and all he could see was memories. _Lily kissed me there... Lily hexed me right there... Sirius and I set off Dungbombs right there... Lily hexed me again right there..._ And then there were the less amusing, even more bittersweet memories: _There's the classroom where we had our first ever lesson first year. There's where we got the idea of the Map. Right there..._ James sighed as a muddle of images, sounds and feelings came in a rush, all of the wonderful, terrible, amazing things that he had done inside those walls hitting him all at once.

He was leaving Hogwarts.

Forever.

...Maybe.

But it wouldn't really be goodbye.

That which we love never truly departs from our hearts.

Not completely.

And yet, when James looked back at the worn building as he made his way across the manicured lawns, craning his neck and squinting in the bright sunlight filtering across the grounds, as he looked back at the castle where he had spent the last seven years and all of the laughter, tears, love, hate, joy, and sorrow that they entailed, there was a certain sense of finality. Perhaps he would come again. Maybe even as a professor. But he would never truly belong.

He would be welcomed, of course. Hogwarts will always be there to welcome us home. But it wouldn't be home anymore. Not really.

No one asked about the tear tracks glinting on his cheeks when he arrived at the boats to begin the ceremonial crossing that they had done once before, as wide-eyed first years whose biggest worry was the House Cup.

No one asked because there was hardly a dry eye in the group.

No one asked because they all understood what he was feeling.

No one asked.

And he offered no explanation.

...

Hogwarts has seen thousands of students come and go. But there was something special about those who would end their schooling under a large oak tree in 1978. And there was definitely something special about the four boys that unashamedly linked hands as they stared up at what was once their home.

And somehow they knew that Hogwarts heard what they whispered simultaneously, smiling up at the ancient building that day, the day they left it.

And somehow they knew that Hogwarts would remember those words, and keep them safe until they were needed again.

Many stories end with "the end." But not this story. Because this story is true. So this story will conclude with two words that have much more meaning than "the end".

Because the words that those four boys spoke that day, the last goodbye they gave to Hogwarts, were, of course, "Mischief Managed."

 **No story lives unless there is someone who wants to listen. Thank you for listening.**


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